Anti-ICE Protests Spread to Target Stores Nationwide, Northgate Seattle Action

Anti-ICE protesters staged demonstrations at Target locations across the country in the second week of February 2026, pressing the retailer to publicly oppose recent federal immigration-enforcement actions and to call on Congress to defund ICE. A visible action occurred at the Northgate Target in Seattle on Feb. 15, and organizers called for sit-ins and other demonstrations to continue for a full week.

Organizers ranged from ICE Out Minnesota, described as a coalition of community groups, religious leaders and labor unions, to Mennonite Action, which organized roughly a dozen inside and outside Target demonstrations nationwide. ICE Out Minnesota publicly called for a week of sit-ins at Target stores; Mennonite Action participants sang and urged the company to publicly call Congress to defund ICE while following the lead of Minneapolis organizers, according to a coalition spokesperson.

Minneapolis remained central to the mobilization given Target’s headquarters there and recent federal activity in the city. Reports say two residents who had participated in anti-ICE protests were killed by federal agents; some accounts identify the victims as Renee Good and Alex Pretti and place the deaths "this month," while other reports describe the killings as occurring "last month." Organizers and protesters have invoked those incidents in arguing for corporate accountability.

Seattle saw multiple high-profile actions. Hundreds gathered outside the downtown Target on 2nd Avenue near Pike Place Market for a noisy demonstration that included car horns, tambourine jingles and homemade signs. Dozens of small businesses in Washington voluntarily shuttered on a Friday in solidarity, and organizers planned a 1 p.m. rally at Seattle Central College on Saturday. Valerie Costa, 44, a member of the Seattle-based group Troublemakers, said the local strike event sought to push back against ICE’s presence in Minnesota and to insist on accountability for federal agents who commit crimes.

In Minneapolis’ Dinkytown, Elan Axelbank, a member of the Minnesota chapter of Socialist Alternative, organized a midweek protest outside a Target and criticized the retailer’s response: "They claim to be part of the community, but they are not standing up to ICE." Crowds at Seattle demonstrations included protesters chanting "Target, you should be ashamed of yourselves," and local participants urged shoppers and workers to follow general strike guidelines to not work, not shop and not attend school during coordinated actions.

Target declined Wednesday to comment on the protests. Retail analysts warned of reputational distraction: Saunders, managing director of the retail division at GlobalData, said the negative attention is "another distraction from Target's business." Activists pointed to the company’s civic ties in Minneapolis, including its stadium and arena naming, as part of their case that Target should take a public stance.

The actions targeted a small fraction of Target’s nearly 2,000 stores, but demonstrations were scheduled or reported in a long list of cities: St. Paul, Boston, Chicago, Honolulu, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Raleigh, San Diego and Seattle, as well as suburban areas of Minnesota, California and Massachusetts. With ICE Out Minnesota calling for a week of sit-ins and Mennonite Action staging about a dozen demonstrations, organizers signaled plans to sustain pressure on the retailer into the coming days.