Anti-ICE protesters occupy Target store in Minneapolis over immigration enforcement

Anti-ICE protesters staged a sit-in inside and occupied a Target store in Minnesota on Monday, demanding that the retailer take a stand against federal immigration authorities. 

A group of protesters occupied the store, claiming Target was allowing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to operate in its parking lot. 

“Target parking lots have been a meeting place for ICE agents,” one protester holding an “Abolish ICE” sign said at the retailer’s St. Paul location. “ICE agents are using the toilets at Target, so they’re facilitating this invasion.”

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Target is serving as a “staging ground” for ICE, he said. 

“They’re not at all participating in challenging this ethnic cleansing we’re seeing in this country,” he said.

Another protester said she was calling on Target to stand with the community to “protect our tiny children from losing their parents.”

“We don’t just want your tiny baby clothes. We want your protection for our families,” she said. 

Fox News Digital has reached out to the retailer. 

The protesters were seen sitting in the middle of the store chanting and speaking out against ICE. One woman called for better treatment of immigrants and their right to decent housing and opportunities. 

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“You must stop treating immigrants wrong,” one woman said. 

The group called for the abolition of ICE and for Target to take a position as the Trump administration continues to arrest criminal illegal immigrants in and around Minneapolis. 

“We’ll be back, we’ll be back,” they chanted. 

Many of the people arrested were living in the United States illegally and have committed crimes, administration officials have said. A viral video circulating online appeared to show agitators interfering with an ICE operation targeting an alleged child sex offender in Minnesota.

The video shows an ICE agent confronting people in St. Paul who he said were honking their car horns and disrupting federal officers as they attempted to take a suspect into custody.

“We’re here to arrest a child sex offender and you guys are out here honking,” the agent says in the video.

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“No, we’re press,” someone off-camera responds. “We’re not honking.”

The agent then points to a nearby vehicle.

“That vehicle right there is honking and impeding our investigations while we’re trying to arrest a child sex offender. That’s who you guys are protecting. Insane.”

Fox News Digital’s Sophia Compton contributed to this report.