U.S. immigration agents staged operations Dec. 4 in the parking lot of a Minneapolis Target store, just days after President Donald Trump escalated his rhetoric against Somali Minnesotans, calling them “garbage” and saying they “contribute nothing.” The operations sparked protests at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, highlighting growing concerns over local immigration enforcement.
Video reviewed by the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder shows ICE vehicles leaving the Target store on East Lake Street, with bystanders shouting in frustration. “Are they police?” one observer asks. As the vehicles depart, another responds: “Thanks for fucking it up.”
Activists say the Target operations were coordinated with similar activity at a store in nearby Richfield. “Target has shown that it’s a two-faced corporation,” civil rights activist Nekemi Levy Armstrong said at a press conference in front of the Lake Street store. “Think about what happened in 2020 after the murder of George Floyd. People were running into Target trying to get milk as law enforcement was spraying us with chemical weapons.”
The East Lake Street Target became a symbol of community resilience after it was rebuilt following the Floyd protests. A mural spanning 52 feet features the faces of five Black and brown women. Now the site sits across from the former 3rd Police Precinct, which once hosted Vice President J.D. Vance and has been used to stage ICE operations, a move critics say is deeply unsettling.
“If you go into the men’s section in Target, you would see Houston White, a local designer,” said Luis Argueta of UnidosMN. “And then when you roll back, that is just another way they took away what they were already putting in the media.”
The confrontations came less than 24 hours after hundreds of Minnesotans gathered at MSP’s Terminal 2, marching to Signature Aviation, a private terminal where deportation flights refuel. Participants included George Mullins, a Black janitor with decades of local experience, and immigrant rights leaders who say federal agents are intentionally transferring detainees far from home.
Signature Aviation allows deportation charters to operate discreetly, bypassing commercial terminals and standard airline security. Many flights stop first in Omaha before reaching detention centers in Alexandria, Louisiana. Immigration attorneys say the routing favors courts known for rulings that support ICE, a practice advocates call “venue shopping.”
“We know that many of our neighbors are taken from here at MSP to detention centers in the South where they are far from legal help, their families and advocates,” Mullins said. “Just like back then, we cannot let fear and hatred win.”
Iman Yusef Abdulle emphasized the link between recent political attacks and the protest. “Over the past week, as we have seen, increasing hateful rhetoric and aggressive action is targeting immigrants, especially and specifically Somalis,” Abdulle said. “When leaders attack immigrants, they are hoping we turn against each other, but we are united.”
Other demonstrators noted the broader context of discrimination. Karen Willis, representing a Bloomington-based solidarity group, compared current actions to the 2017 bombing of the Dar Al Farooq Islamic Center. “We have been seeing hatred toward Muslim, Somali, and Black people for far too many years,” she said. “The escalation of unreasonable, excessive, violent kidnapping of our neighbors and friends is intolerable.”
Nikolai Shimak, carrying a protest banner, highlighted both immigration and labor issues at the airport. “The cold isn’t going to stop ICE. They’re driving families apart,” Shimak said. “We’re also marching for working conditions for people at MSP, including Uber and Lyft drivers, who don’t have a place to pray or use the bathroom.”
Flight data monitored by volunteer analyst Nick Benson of Minnesota 5051 shows changes in ICE flight operations. “Many deportation flights had begun operating with a special call sign,” Benson said. “Most of the deportation fleet had been added to the FAA privacy list.” He added that detainees are often shackled on icy tarmacs before being loaded onto aircraft.
Target has faced criticism on multiple fronts. The company recently laid off 1,800 workers, saw sales decline, and contributed $1 million to Trump’s inauguration committee. Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Minnesota Council for American-Islamic Relations, urged socially conscious consumers to consider alternatives.
“You know you can buy your milk somewhere else, because Target does not own us,” Hussein said. “We are the neighbors. We are the peacekeepers. We are the trusted people.”
The combination of federal enforcement, corporate involvement, and community protest underscores a tense moment in Minneapolis. Residents and activists say they will continue to organize to protect local immigrant communities while holding corporate and governmental actors accountable.
Clint Combs welcomes reader responses at combs0284@gmail.com
This kind of biased news reporting is helping the low information people think they are in the right to go out commit wrongful actions against law enforcement!
We need to deport 15 million illegals let in by the disastrous Biden administration…. so wrong, the Biden crime family should be in jail. Remember quid pro quo???