Evanston clergy leaders took to the aisles of a Target store on West Howard Street to deliver a letter to store management on Monday morning, calling on the Minneapolis-based corporation to oppose federal immigration enforcement and affirm its stores are Fourth Amendment-protected workplaces.
Signed by clergy members from Lake Street Church of Evanston, Unitarian Church of Evanston and First Congregational Church of Evanston, the letter urged Target corporate leadership to denounce the deployment of federal immigration agents to Minneapolis and call on Congress to halt funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
It asked the store to publicly post signage denying entrance to federal immigration agents without signed judicial warrants and provide staff trainings in the event of illegal entrance by agents. It described Target as “a homegrown Minnesotan corporation” and invoked the recent fatal shootings of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.
The Evanston letter was part of a nationwide clergy-led effort, with over 500 religious leaders across the country signing onto a coordinated letter demanding the company speak out against ICE.
“This is an issue that affects corporate management levels, people here locally, people at headquarters, and it’s important that this message gets across to every level of this company,” LSC Rev. Dr. Michael Woolf told members of the branch’s managing team.
Woolf explained they were demanding Target “speak up” about ICE and its “dehumanization” of immigrant communities. He added that people are looking for leadership — especially from companies like Target — and urged employees to alert the Evanston community if they spot agents.
He cited an “extremely troubling” incident at a Minnesota Target where the store “allowed” ICE agents to enter and arrest employees in early January.
For Woolf, the incident was “not just problematic,” but “morally reprehensible.”
“It’s against all of the values that our faith brings to bear,” Woolf said. “So we’re asking you, as faith leaders in Evanston really take that seriously and to bring those Evanston values to this location.”
He emphasized that as local clergy and faith leaders, the letter’s signatories want the store to enforce Fourth Amendment rights to protect employees.
Afterward, the clergy members linked hands to form a circle, and Rev. Jason Coulter of First Congregational Church of Evanston led the group in prayer.
“Help us melt the heart of the pharaoh that is Target,” Coulter said. “Speak out that they can join us in the fight for liberation, so that all your children, all those born here, born across the world, all of your children, might receive respect and dignity.”
The Target employees present Monday morning declined to join them in prayer. They also declined to comment on the letter.
Rev. Stephen Heaviland, a retired pastor at LSC, said the staff was “very receptive” as they listened to the clergy’s concerns.
“Our concern is that if they do come back, that they will be prepared not to allow ICE agents to enter into the parking lot, but also into their building, that they have a moral obligation to their employees,” Haviland said.
LSC congregant Jennifer Mueller added she is encouraging people at her church to write letters and boycott Target.
The letter comes as Target’s new corporate CEO Michael Fiddelke, who assumed his position Feb. 1, faces increasing pressure to take a clear stand against ICE activity in Minneapolis.
Protesters also rallied outside of the company’s Minneapolis headquarters Monday morning — the first business day of his tenure — continuing demonstrations from recent weeks across various Target stores.
Mueller added she hopes that new leadership will take “different actions.”
“We’re talking to Target because they used to be a good company. They were one of the better corporations in this country, and so we’re hoping they will return to that,” Mueller said.
After presenting the letter, Woolf acknowledged it was “an uncomfortable situation” for the Target employees on the managing team, but that it was necessary to demand “more leadership and accountability.”
He said the clergy hoped to continue a grassroots movement in solidarity with Minnesota residents.
“We hope that they’re going to act on their word and bring this in,” Woolf said. “We’re hoping to continue pressure from the local so they realize this is a grassroots movement, and so we hope they’ll move it up the chain of command.”
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