Target: Call for ICE Out of Minnesota

The violent federal immigration enforcement surge that cost the life of Renee Nicole Good has been tearing apart families, destabilizing communities, and is violating our freedom across the country. We can't move forward as if this is normal. It is not.

This is the moment to ask corporations like Target that have been collaborating with ICE to speak out.

Your mission is to:

Take in-person and online action to demand Target speak out and stop collaborating with ICE. We’re asking Target

  1. Publicly call for an immediate end to the ICE “surge” into MN and for ICE to leave the state; 

  2. Affirm Target stores as fourth amendment workplaces, publicly posting signage denying entrance to immigration agents without signed judicial warrants and training staff on how to respond if immigration agents enter illegally; 

  3. Publicly call for Congress to stop funding ICE. 

In-store Salt-ICE action:

Find where there is salt, either for cooking (only $0.89) or for outdoor use. Grab some, and go to self-checkout. 

  • Why salt? Because salt melts ICE.

  • When you get to self-checkout, take as much time to checkout as you can. Click the wrong button on the screen. Start over from scratch. Ask for help from Target staff. Pay with nickels. Get creative!

  • The goal is to slow down checkout. (Check out a similar action at a Home Depot in California a few months ago)

  • After you finish checkout, take your purchased item to the returns section. Process the return, again moving slowly. Have an issue with the card reader. Ask the staff for help. We want to back up the entire returns process.

  • Repeat these steps as long as you are able or until you get asked to leave.

  • If you are able to get things really backed up, take a photo or video and post it to social media, explaining why you’re doing this.

  • If staff ask what you’re doing and why you’re doing it, lift up the three demands.

    • 1. Publicly call for an immediate end to the ICE “surge” into MN and for ICE to leave the state; 

    • 2. Affirm Target stores as fourth amendment workplaces, publicly posting signage denying entrance to immigration agents without signed judicial warrants and training staff on how to respond if immigration agents enter illegally; 

    • 3. Publicly call for Congress to stop funding ICE. 

  • You can also print out these fliers to share with shoppers. If you need a full-page version rather than a quarter sheet, click here.

    • Tell them what you’re doing and why, what you just did in the store, and invite them to pass along the three demands to the manager when they’re inside too.

Online action:

  • Log onto the Target website. Find something inexpensive and in stock at your local store, like table salt, and add it to your cart. When you click online checkout, update your name under “Order pickup person”. The default will be your name, but you can edit this to say something like “ICE out of Minnesota, Target speak up!”

  • Place your order, and then don’t go pick it up. Target has a policy where any orders not picked up after three days will be automatically refunded. 

  • Repeat. Encourage friends (anywhere in the country) to do the same!

Deliver a letter to the manager at your local Target:

  • Bring 5 (or 10 or 20) friends with you

  • Download and print out 2 copies of the fourth amendment business signs (black and white) stating that ICE is not welcome and what rights businesses have under the fourth amendment. Be sure to print in landscape, not portrait, and if you’re having issues with formatting make sure in your print settings “scale” set to “Fit to printable area”.

  • Download and print out this community letter so individual members of your delegations who come ready to speak to the Target store manager can sign them 

  • When you arrive at 12pm at your local Target, take 5 minutes to have a pre-meeting with whomever is there:

    • Have someone take photos!

    • Make a plan of who will engage with Target staff, ask to speak to the manager, and who will talk with Target security if they try and speak with you

  • With your group, have someone ask to speak with the manager. Hand them the fourth amendment workplace sign and the signed community letter with the following 3 demands: 

    • 1. Publicly call for an immediate end to the ICE “surge” into MN and for ICE to leave the state; 

    • 2. Affirm Target stores as fourth amendment workplaces, publicly posting signage denying entrance to immigration agents without signed judicial warrants and training staff on how to respond if immigration agents enter illegally; 

    • 3. Publicly call for Congress to stop funding ICE. 

  • If you’re visiting a Target store that already had people visit it earlier this week, ask the manager: Have you heard back from Target Corporate? What progress has been made on the community demands?  

  • After meeting with the manager, go stand outside the entrance and ask people on their way in if they have a minute to talk. You can print out these fliers to share. If you need a full-page version rather than a quarter sheet, click here.

    • Tell them what you’re doing and why, what you just did in the store, and invite them to pass along the three demands to the manager when they’re inside too.

  1. IMPT: Report back on your visit to Target or a local small business here: https://bit.ly/4AmendVisitReportBackForm

Why are we Targeting Target?

On Thursday, January 8th, Customs and Border Patrol assaulted and kidnapped two US citizens while they were working a shift at the Richfield, MN Target store. On Sunday, January 11th, Customs and Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino entered the Midway Target in Saint Paul, MN, along with a team of agents to apparently film propaganda. Target is Minnesota’s leading corporate citizen. It is the fourth largest employer in the state. Minnesota’s sports teams play in stadiums and jerseys with Target’s logo on them. Where Target leads, others follow. Our state is under occupation from federal agents, and they are attacking Minnesotans quite literally inside of Target stores. We need Target to stand with Minnesotans against these attacks. 

Engaging Target:

Across the country, people are going to their local Target stores and asking to speak to the manager. And you can too! Organize a group of 5 (or 10, or 20) people to go with you to your local Target store. Not sure where that is? Look it up here. Go inside, find someone on staff and ask if you all can speak to the manager. Share the following asks, and hand them the fourth amendment workplace sign and a copy of the signed community letter. Ask them to pass your demands along to Target Corporate. In this interaction, it’s good to be friendly but firm. 

Have you already done this at your local Target? Try going to another in the area, or go back and see if you get a different response from the store manager. 

Also consider having conversations with other patrons on their way in and out of Target. Most Targets will have a public stretch of sidewalk, potentially on the edge of the parking lot. Stop folks on their way in and out of Target, and ask if they think that Target should stand with Minnesotans. If they do, invite them to sign this petition: https://bit.ly/4qOdej9

What is the fourth amendment?

The fourth amendment to the US Constitution states the following: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath of affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

What that means in practice is that federal agents do not have the legal right to show up unannounced at private spaces like a home or a business and demand entry without a warrant signed by a judge. The fourth Amendment was ratified in the US Constitution as part of the Bill of the Rights in 1791. The Framers of the Constitution recognized the importance of having explicit, named legal protection against unreasonable search and seizure because they had direct experience of that from the British. 

What does it mean to be a fourth Amendment Workplace?

Fourth Amendment Workplaces implement measures to reduce the risk of unconstitutional entry by federal agents. This helps to keep workers and patrons safer, and ensure more people know their rights in the event federal agents do show up. Fourth Amendment Workplaces train employers and employees on what rights we all have under the fourth amendment, and how to protect against unlawful search and seizure. 

That means training on how to interact with federal agents, how to safeguard employees if federal agents enter illegally, and how to avoid revealing private information about employees.

Here is a helpful story about a local McDonalds who practiced their Fourth Amendment rights.

Engaging local businesses

Any workplace can become a fourth Amendment Workplace. It is powerful to engage workplaces that both do and do not have workers at higher risk from ICE. Building a community groundswell of support – and demonstrating broad support for fourth Amendment Workplaces – helps keep us all safe. We are learning from allies across the country who’ve worked to recruit businesses as fourth Amendment Workplaces, and the most powerful way to ask is through a personal invitation. Go to businesses that you frequent and where you have relationships with staff. 

If you’re thinking about where to go, map out the businesses where you have personal relationships. It might be your neighborhood coffee shop, or a place across town where a friend works. Within your list of businesses where you have a relationship, think about prioritizing businesses that have some of the following characteristics:

  • High Profile: When people think of your neighborhood, your town, your city, they think of this place. 

  • High Visibility: They’re visible from a road or a sidewalk that gets foot or car traffic, or have a notable online presence.

  • Share our Values: They’re known for being pro-worker and pro-immigrant.

What should you ask your local businesses to do?

When you go to speak to a local business, it’s important to frame the conversation around shared values and care for our communities. Look to establish shared concerns about the crisis situation we’re all living for, and that this is a powerful way to show up for our neighbors. Ask local businesses to put up fourth Amendment Workplace signs in their windows, and to share information with their workers about the rights that we all have under the fourth Amendment.

Additionally, ask local businesses to participate in the January 23rd Day of Truth and Freedom. This is a day when Minnesotans are standing together to say that enough is enough, we need ICE out, and we’re going to demonstrate that by withholding our time, our money, and our labor. No work. No school. ICE Out. Businesses can participate by committing to close on Friday, January 23rd. 

What Can Businesses Do as fourth Amendment Workplaces?

Businesses wanting to become fourth Amendment Workplaces can do it by taking several steps: 1) Post a fourth Amendment Workplace sign at entrances to your business stating that federal agents are not welcome without a warrant 2) Meet with staff to train them on their rights and how to take basic workplace protections 3) Create a plan for how to respond if ICE shows up 4) Separate public and private spaces in a business. There is more information about how businesses can respond here.

It’s important to post signs demonstrating commitment to be a workplace that protects community members as well as having specific language about denying access to federal law enforcement without a warrant signed by a judge in private areas. If you are a business that only has public spaces, you can still post signs stating that all community members except ICE are welcome.

Why post signs publicly?

A preemptive statement that ICE cannot enter private space creates the conditions for any entry by ICE into that private space to be illegal. This can dissuade officers from entering in the first place, or it can create conditions for any subsequent kidnapping and detention to be illegal. It creates an extra layer of safety for staff and patrons who may fear coming to work or visiting a business. It also creates a climate in a neighborhood, in a town, or in a city where more businesses should be doing the same thing.