NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — Target Corp. denied working with immigration enforcement after Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez condemned the company for opening up its parking spaces to ICE following the shooting of a man Thursday in New York City.
Ocasio-Cortez called for an independent investigation of the incident, demanding that Target stop offering its Bronx properties as “private staging sites for ICE.”
“Target opening up large, active retail parking lots for paramilitary activity is unacceptable and places the entire community at risk,” she said in a statement late Thursday.
Oscar Belgal, a 28-year-old Dominican man, was shot during what the Department of Homeland Security described as a targeted operation in the Marble Hill neighborhood.
A Target spokesman said Friday that it does not have any cooperative agreements with ICE.
In October, a group of city elected officials representing the West Bronx wrote to Target expressing the outrage of their communities, noting that more than 50 residents called on the company six months prior to end cooperation with ICE and establish protections against immigration enforcement on its property.
Target is among a number of retailers that have been caught up in the turmoil caused by President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. The company is based in Minneapolis, where federal immigration agents fatally shot two US citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, in separate incidents in January, fueling weeks of protests and a national backlash.
The administration subsequently replaced the border chief overseeing the Minneapolis operation with border czar Tom Homan, who began withdrawing agents and led a broader shift away from high profile street enforcement, though immigration arrests have continued.
During the surge in Minnesota earlier this year, two Target employees — US citizens from a Richfield, Minnesota store — were briefly detained by immigration officials. Some store workers in the Twin Cities area called out of work because they were afraid. Target’s Chief Executive Officer Michael Fiddelke called the violence “incredibly painful” to employees and cited the safety of workers and shoppers as the company’s first priority, Bloomberg previously reported.
Immigration officials have also targeted Home Depot Inc.’s parking lots where migrant workers have gathered for years looking for work. The company, which has said it’s not involved in immigration enforcement operations, has also stated that its parking lots are publicly accessible and that law enforcement agents do not require a warrant to enter these areas.
