Why national anger is boiling over again at US Target stores

Target finds itself, once again, embroiled in the most recent and bitter political division in the United States, as it faces pressure from residents, religious leaders and other sectors to take a stand after immigration agents knocked down a store employee and pushed him into an SUV.

Cellphone videos show Border Patrol agents detained two employees at a Target store in Richfield, Minnesota, last week. Both appeared to be filming the agents, and one of them was swearing in their direction.

“I am an American citizen!” shouted one of the workers as the agents pushed him towards the sport utility vehicle. “American citizen! American citizen!”

In the days that followed, some residents of Richfield, a suburb south of Minneapolis, had mixed feelings about shopping at the store.

“It’s terrible,” said DeAnthony Jones, a customer who had seen footage of the episode. “I probably shouldn’t be coming here and giving them my money.”

The retailer seems unable to avoid being the target of boycotts, for one reason or another.

For years, Target’s leaders have been challenged in fiery petitions, and its stores have been the scene of viral videos, as protesters from across the political spectrum have called on the company to take a stance on a range of issues, including racism, LGBTQ+ rights and corporate diversity programs.

And now, the enforcement of immigration laws. A Target spokesperson declined to comment. The company has not yet released any public statement about the incident in Richfield.

Last year, Jones, who lives about five minutes from the store, avoided Target for a different reason: The company had announced it would end its diversity, equity and inclusion goals. But the store offers products that, according to him, he can’t find elsewhere, and that’s why he ended up returning.

The retailer’s headquarters are in Minneapolis, a city still reeling from angry protests after an immigration agent shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Good on January 7. (President Donald Trump and other officials defended the shooting as legal, saying the officer had acted in self-defense.)

Last February, Target became the focus of the most vigorous boycott yet over its rollback of its DEI policies — programs the company had previously touted, including those that benefited suppliers of color. Protesters gathered outside the headquarters with signs calling for a “National Boycott of Target.”

The Rev. Jamal Bryant, pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church near Atlanta, has called for a 40-day “fast” without shopping at Target.