A national coalition made up of millions of teachers, school staff and other union members has launched a boycott against Target in protest of the retailer’s decision not to publicly denounce the surge of immigration enforcement officers in the Twin Cities earlier this year.

The American Federation of Teachers (AFT), in coordination with the AFL-CIO, announced the campaign in recent days. The organization also ran a full-page advertisement in the New York Times on Sunday.

The group says the boycott could divert billions in back-to-school spending from the Minneapolis company. The AFT, which has 1.8 million members, is an affiliate of the AFL-CIO, which has about 15 million members.

The AFT argues Target’s officials have refused to “stand up to ICE” despite a months-long demand from Twin Cities organizers.

Target representatives declined to comment on the boycott, but confirmed to the Star Tribune that Target has no relationship or cooperative agreement with ICE.

“Operation Metro Surge” was deployed this winter by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The wave of thousands of federal immigration agents that was sent to Minnesota and the Twin Cities was called at the time the largest federal immigration enforcement initiative in U.S. history.

“This back-to-school season, we are asking members to skip shopping at Target and consider spending their money at other retailers,” the AFT said in an online statement. “The AFT, in consultation with our partners in the Twin Cities, passed a resolution demanding the Minneapolis-based business speak up against the atrocities being committed in its own backyard by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and we called for a comprehensive back-to-school campaign if it failed to take meaningful action.”

Boycott organizers said Target refused to heed the demands of Twin Cities organizers so the AFT passed another resolution urging members to shop locally instead of at Target.

Randi Weingarten, president of AFT, said in a statement she reached out to Target CEO Michael Fiddelke twice this year but did not receive a “constructive response.”

Fiddelke took over the Minneapolis-based company this February amid scrutiny and financial pressure. Target laid off 1,000 workers in October, but reported signs of growth this August.

Fiddelke signed on to a letter with other major business leaders in late January after the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good by federal agents. The letter, which was released by the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, called for de-escalation and for local and federal officials to “come together to foster progress.”

Still, union members have demanded more.

“The issue could not be more pressing: Seven months since the murders of Alex Pretti and Renée Good, masked ICE agents are still in our streets, our schools and our communities, terrorizing families in the name of Donald Trump’s illegal and immoral assault on immigrants striving for their American Dream,” Weingarten said in a news release.

In addition to others during the operation, two Target employees were detained at the Richfield store by U.S. Border Patrol in January despite being U.S. citizens.

“We’re disappointed that Target has failed to live up to its promises to be a good neighbor to the families who have shopped there for years,” Natasha Dockter, first vice president for the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers, said in a statement.

This is not the Minneapolis company’s first boycott. Shoppers across the nation stopped shopping last year at the retail giant after Target rolled back diversity initiatives amid White House pressure.

©2026 The Minnesota Star Tribune. Visit at startribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.