Bellingham activists protest local Target, demanding end of ICE cooperation
More than 50 community members gathered at the Bellingham Target over the weekend as part of a national call to protest the corporation’s “cooperation” with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The protesters, part of an activist group known as the Bellingham Troublemakers, walked through the Bellingham Target store Saturday morning with signs, distributing flyers and engaging shoppers and Target employees.
The group said Target has allowed “agents to enter stores, film promotional content, and use Target parking lots as staging areas for raids.”
“Target has a legal right to keep ICE out of its stores, and instead it is choosing silence and complicity,” said Wendy Czopp of Bellingham Troublemakers. “That choice puts workers, customers, and entire communities at risk. We showed up today to demand that Target use its power to protect people, not enable abuse.”
A few of the group members met with store management to present demands and deliver a letter addressed to the company’s CEO, Michael Fiddelke, who took over as the corporation’s CEO on Sunday.
Protesters also criticized Target for failing to condemn ICE after its agents detained two Target employees in Minnesota in early January.
Target is headquartered in Minneapolis and is being called Minnesota’s “leading corporate citizen” by activists. The corporation has 1,989 stores across the country.
The activists are specifically demanding that the Target Corporation:
- Publicly call for an immediate end to the ICE “surge” in Minnesota and for ICE and CBP to leave the state.
- Affirm Target stores as Fourth Amendment workplaces by posting signage denying entry to ICE agents without signed judicial warrants and training staff on how to respond.
- Publicly call on Congress to cut federal funding for ICE.
- Support investigations and accountability for any federal agent who harms or kills a civilian.
“Target presents itself as a community-minded company, but communities don’t feel safe when ICE is allowed to operate freely inside retail spaces,” said Rachel Budelsky of Bellingham Troublemakers. “This is about basic safety, dignity, and accountability. Collaborating with ICE is bad for workers, bad for customers, and bad for business.”
The Herald was awaiting a response from the Target Corporation at the time of publication.
Members of the same local activist group also gathered at the Hampton Inn Bellingham Airport on Jan. 23 to demand that Hilton Hotels stop housing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
This story was originally published February 2, 2026 at 1:20 PM.
