Employees say Target is MIA in Minneapolis: 'This is not the company I signed up for'

Suzie lifted the box of diapers from her trunk and glanced down the street to be sure she hadn't been followed. It was a bright Thursday afternoon, and her boots crunched across the icy Minneapolis pavement as she crossed to the curtain-drawn house of a Target coworker.

The street was quiet. It was just a few blocks from where Renee Good, a mother of three, was shot and killed by an ICE agent three weeks earlier. The coworker, who is Latina, has been too afraid to venture into a store.

"The first time I did this, I was very nervous — almost paranoid," said Suzie, who asked not to be identified by her full name. She had taken a roundabout route and turned off her phone's location tracking.

Suzie is a 15-year Target employee who works in merchandising at its downtown headquarters. Now, she's also part of an informal mutual-aid network that has emerged among the company's corporate workforce as Minneapolis — where Target is one of the largest employers — has become ground zero for the Trump administration's immigration crackdown.

She doesn't consider herself an activist. "It's just neighbors taking care of neighbors," she said. "It takes away the helplessness of feeling like the government's against us. It's something you can actually do, instead of sitting on your phone feeling depressed."

Across Minneapolis, Target employees are among the thousands of residents who are out marching, offering help to neighbors, and standing watch in sub-freezing temperatures — while pressing company leadership in Slack channels to more forcefully condemn the administration's actions.

That urgency has collided with growing frustration inside Target itself. In an open letter sent to leadership last week, hundreds of Target employees wrote that "Target's continued inaction in the face of the current administration puts all of us at risk of more harm in our workplaces and represents a moral failure to protect those in our community."

Two days later, after federal agents shot and killed 37-year-old ICU nurse Alex Pretti, Target's incoming CEO, Michael Fiddelke, joined dozens of Minnesota business leaders in calling for "de-escalation of tensions."

In a video to employees, he described the violence as "incredibly painful," but stopped short of condemning the killings or criticizing the Trump administration, which has cited Minneapolis's sanctuary city policies as the reason for the enforcement surge. Target also contributed to a $3.5 million fund for small businesses affected by the disruptions.

Some employees say that's a start, but not enough for them.

At Art Price Studio, a screen printer in Northeast Minneapolis, its owner said that at least a dozen people have come in with Target's red uniforms and tote bags and asked for anti-ICE slogans like "ICE OUT!" to be printed onto them.

Across town, a logistics specialist who's worked for Target for 4 years spends much of her free time volunteering as a neighborhood lookout. A few days a week, she stands outside local restaurants during shift changes to keep an eye out for approaching federal law enforcement agents and offers rides home to frightened workers.

Another Target employee, who works in merchandising and has been with the company for seven years, uses a 3D printer to make whistles — the instrument of choice for protesters to warn their neighbors to the arrival of federal agents and be witnesses to any violence. The whistles are then paired with laminated "Know Your Rights" cards, made in six different languages, which volunteers like Suzie drop off at local coffee shops and bookstores.

The employee, who is of Vietnamese origin, has mostly been working from home since Target's corporate office relaxed its requirement for employees to work in the office three times a week in response to ICE's activities and unrest in the city.

Even though she's a US citizen, she wants to avoid the ICE run-ins that other family members and friends have experienced.

Another Target employee, who works in merchandising and has been with the company for seven years, uses a 3D printer to make whistles — the instrument of choice for protesters to warn their neighbors to the arrival of federal agents and be witnesses to any violence. The whistles are then paired with manuals, made in six different languages, which volunteers like Suzie drop off at local coffee shops and bookstores.

On the few occasions she's gone into the Target offices, she's been struck by how many employees of color seem to be staying home. "It's like, wow, all my white colleagues are here. My colleagues of color are not," she said.

Like many employees interviewed by Business Insider, she said she feels a disconnect between how she's experiencing the events in Minneapolis and Target's public statements.

"It's hard to show up at work and put my own values aside. It doesn't feel good."

Five and a half years ago, when George Floyd was killed less than 4 miles from Target's Minneapolis headquarters, the company's response was different. The retail giant, which at the time made social justice a cornerstone of its business, reacted with a sweeping, highly visible show of support.

Target pledged $10 million to social-justice organizations and scaled up its DEI programs. "Target stands with black families, communities and team members," then-CEO Brian Cornell said in a statement. Floyd, he said, "could have been one of my Target team members."

Like much of corporate America, Target has softened its public embrace of progressive causes in recent years. In last week's open letter, employees criticized the company's decision to scale back its LGBTQ Pride collection, its $1 million donation to Trump's inauguration fund, and its winding down of several DEI initiatives last year.

The recent events in Minneapolis are putting that strategy to the test. And the protests also come at a delicate time for Target. Fiddelke, a company veteran who most recently served as COO, will take over the top role on Sunday; Cornell will stay on as the board's executive chairman.

Fiddelke will have to contend with returning Target to growth after three years of lackluster sales performance and a stock price that is down roughly 25% from a year ago.

In the days after Pretti's killing, Target managers held listening sessions with their staff. Some employees used town hall-style forums to vent their anger and frustration at not doing more, according to an employee who attended multiple such forums.

One corporate Slack channel that Business Insider has seen is called "#yelling" and was originally intended for venting about "situations or things, not people." It has roughly 3,600 employees, about half the number Target employs at its Twin Cities headquarters. The channel has lately become an outlet for frustrations with government and corporate leadership alike, as well as sharing links to community-aid resources.

In the days before Pretti was killed, the tone of the channel was largely defiant, peppered with anti-ICE memes. After the company appeared to avoid taking sides on the issue, it turned to outrage.

The military-style immigration raids across the metro area have stirred a widespread sense of paranoia. More than 3,500 people have been arrested in the Twin Cities in the last two months, including on school grounds and outside day cares. Overnight on Thursday, federal agents arrested the former CNN anchor Don Lemon and another journalist who had covered a local protest at a church.

A federal judge has said ICE is in violation of nearly 100 court orders involving noncitizens its agents have apprehended.

Residents dropping off groceries for neighbors or helping out with laundry say they worry about face-scanning technology and cell phone surveillance. They mostly coordinate over the encrypted messaging platform Signal.

Employees who volunteer say they block off time on their work calendars or set an out-of-office Slack status. Some have been stepping away to look out for immigration patrols at their neighborhood schools before and after classes.

In a video to employees, he described the violence as "incredibly painful," but stopped short of condemning the killings or criticizing the Trump administration,

At the team level, employees say, there has been patience and flexibility from managers and coworkers.

A military veteran who has worked at Target for more than five years said his direct supervisor and his supervisor's supervisor have been "unquestionably, unwaveringly" supportive. That has meant flexibility to adjust schedules and workloads to accommodate things like extra grocery runs, carpools, and mental health days.

But the person said the company's official statements have been disappointing.

"When I started with the company, I was very proud," the person said. He says the company's neutrality — broadly calling for "deescalation" — has been disappointing, and he's now much less likely to share that he's a Target employee.

He referenced a Wednesday statement by outdoor supply company Patagonia — which operates a retail store in St. Paul — that condemned "government-sanctioned violence" and opposing increased funding for DHS and ICE.

"This is what leadership I want to follow looks like," the Target worker said of Patagonia's statement.

Several other employees say they've lost their sense of pride in being Target employees since the company shifted to a more cautious approach. One person who has worked there for 12 years says Target's handling of DEI issues was a breaking point for her.

"I personally am boycotting Target and have for the past year, which is, I realize, very ironic, considering I work for them," she said. "My friends and family around me, they're not shopping Target right now. They're mad."

The merchandiser who prints whistles and "Know Your Rights" cards said she's glad her coworkers and neighbors are taking action.

"I feel like Minnesotans can take it and our strong community is really fighting back," she said.

Sam Fellman is a journalist at Business Insider who oversees the Military & Defense team. He lives in Minneapolis.

Dominick Reuter is a senior retail reporter for Business Insider.