AFT Urges Target to Condemn ICE Operations in Its Home City

The American Federation of Teachers sent a public letter to Target Corporation on Sunday demanding that the company explicitly call for federal immigration agents to leave Minneapolis, escalating a months-long confrontation with the retailer over its response to events in its own headquarters city.

AFT President Randi Weingarten directed the letter at CEO Michael Fiddelke, who this week began his first days running a company he joined decades ago as an intern. His response so far: a Monday statement outlining business priorities that made no mention of ICE's operations in Minneapolis. Target did not reply to a request for comment.

"The AFT is deeply concerned about the company's silence on ICE's continuing operations in Minneapolis following ICE and Border Patrol agents' murders of two Minneapolis residents," Weingarten wrote. The two residents she referenced are Alex Pretti, fatally shot by two Border Patrol agents, and Renee Good, fatally shot by U.S. immigration agents on Jan. 7.

Weingarten's leverage argument is concrete. AFT's membership, which includes teachers, nurses, and public employees, invests a total of roughly $4 trillion in pension funds that own an estimated 6.8 million shares of Target stock. She also noted that those same members represent "an important addressable market" as consumers. "As a company that employs 34,000 Minnesotans, many in critical headquarters positions, Target has deep roots in the Twin Cities and benefits substantially from a favorable relationship with that community," she wrote.

The letter pointedly addressed Fiddelke's early tenure: "Your response to the current crisis will define your time as CEO."

Fiddelke's silence on ICE stands in partial contrast to his own prior actions. He was among more than 60 Minnesota-based CEOs who signed a joint letter in January demanding the "immediate de-escalation of tensions" in the state. But that letter contained no reference to ICE or its tactics, and was drafted in the wake of the shooting of Alex Pretti. Weingarten called it a "productive first step" while concluding it "falls far short of showing real leadership to end ICE's occupation in Minnesota."

This is not AFT's first confrontation with Target. In September, the union joined a nationwide consumer boycott after Target rolled back its diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in response to the Trump administration's pressure on corporate DEI initiatives. That boycott is now background context for a union that has demonstrated it will act on its shareholder and consumer clout, not just threaten it.

Alison Taylor, a professor of Business and Society at NYU Stern School of Business, told CBS News that the broader business community "is likely to come under continuing pressure related to the events in Minneapolis," suggesting Fiddelke's dilemma is one other Minnesota executives will also face.

For a CEO who grew up inside Target's culture and is now running it during one of the company's more turbulent stretches, the choice of whether to speak or stay quiet on ICE activity in the city where his company was built is arriving fast.