Teachers Union Calls Boycott of Target Over ICE Enforcement Response

The American Federation of Teachers passed a resolution calling on its 1.8 million members to skip Target for back-to-school purchases and spend at local stores instead. For team members on the floor, that directive translates into customer questions, potential demonstrations outside store entrances, and social media filming. The company's guidance on all three is clear: inquiries about policy or immigration enforcement go to store leadership, not the team member at the register or on the floor.

The boycott was announced publicly by AFT President Randi Weingarten at Chicago's "Workers Over Billionaires" Labor Day rally alongside Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates and Dr. Jamal Bryant, the Georgia pastor who first launched the Target boycott. The trigger is Target's handling of a surge in federal immigration enforcement in Minneapolis this winter. On Jan. 8, immigration officials detained two Target employees who are U.S. citizens during their shift at a Richfield, Minnesota store; video of the arrest spread rapidly on social media. Federal agents also shot and killed two U.S. citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, during the broader operation, according to CNBC.

Weingarten said the AFT sent Target a letter and met with company staff before moving to pass the resolution. "Target was negotiating with our colleagues in the civil rights community for weeks and weeks and weeks," she said. "They could have very easily dealt with both [concerns about DEI and immigration enforcement] and they chose not to."

Target has already issued internal guidance for workers closest to the situation. Chief Human Resources Officer Melissa Kremer said in a memo to employees that the company's security teams are increasing communication with Minneapolis-based workers about expected disruptions near store locations and that senior leaders are engaging with government officials, community partners and faith leaders. Outside Minneapolis, that memo serves as a preview of what's coming to store floors chain-wide.

Target's official posture is to stay out of the public debate. The company declined to comment specifically on the AFT resolution, instead citing its "longstanding commitment to strengthening the communities we serve," its educator discount program and a philanthropic policy of donating 5% of profits since its founding. Target also said it had "ongoing conversations with boycott organizers," who "acknowledged the meaningful contributions Target has made, and will continue to make, to the Black community." Media and political questions at store level are not for team members to field.

The boycott lands as Target presses through three consecutive years of declining annual sales. CEO Michael Fiddelke has been pushing a turnaround built on store renovations, price reductions and expanded merchandise offerings. The AFT resolution is timed deliberately for back-to-school season, one of retail's high-stakes periods, and the union plans to push similar resolutions at the AFL-CIO's convention in Minneapolis this summer and at conventions of the NAACP and LULAC.

The AFT is also joining a longer-running campaign. Nearly a year ago, Target rolled back its three-year DEI goals and stopped participating in external diversity surveys following the election of President Donald Trump. The AFT's press release asserts that since Dr. Jamal Bryant launched his initial boycott, Target has lost over $12 billion in sales, a figure the union has not independently documented.

Whether the AFT resolution reduces back-to-school traffic meaningfully will depend on market. In Minneapolis, where an economic strike was already underway before this resolution passed, Kremer's memo makes clear that disruptions near stores are expected and that senior leadership is actively working government and community stakeholder channels.