On Tuesday, October 13, 2026, city officials in the Big Apple urged New Yorkers to take a stand against retail giant Target after reports emerged that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were using its Marble Hill store’s parking lot as a staging area for enforcement operations, which included an incident a week ago that ended with an ICE officer being forced to shoot a man in the neck.
The man who was injured, Oscar Belgal, 28, acting recklessly to try avoiding detainment and deportation, had his 5-year-old son in the back seat when an officer fired a total of seven bullets into his vehicle. A senior official with ICE defended the shooting, saying that Belgal was trying to use his vehicle as a weapon.
Elected officials, several clergy members, along with immigrant advocates, all gathered outside the store to demand that Target issue a public condemnation of ICE using their parking lot and to ban agents from spending money at the business. Local officials say the agency has been using the area for months. The protest rally was organized by far-left organization called Until Freedom, which was co-founded by Tamika Mallory.
According to the Gothamist, Mallory has been pushing for a Target boycott ever since the company decided to roll back its diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in January 2025. When the outlet reached out to Target for a comment, the retailer did not respond to the request. A spokesman for the company previously stated that the chain does not have an agreement in place with any federal immigration office.
The parking lot is located behind a building that is shared by several big chain stores including Marshalls and Foot Locker. The publication covering the incident said they were not, as of this writing, able to independently verify that ICE actually used the parking lot, which is owned by Kingsbridge Associates, which is an affiliate of Washington Square Partners.
“Target has been silent,” Councilmember Pierina Sanchez went on to say about the allegations against the store. “If you can take our money, you should be able to stand up and protect us, and until you do, boycott Target.” Public Advocate Jumaane Williams told New Yorkers to avoid shopping at Target, while city Comptroller Mark Levine, who is in charge of the city’s pension funds, said he’s written to the company to demand an independent review of the store.
The report then revealed this isn’t the first time that Target has been caught in the middle of the national battle over immigration enforcement. In August 2026, the American Federation of Teachers demanded a back-to-school boycott over the retailer’s response to a federal immigration enforcement operation unfolding in the Twin Cities of Minnesota.
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Not long after President Donald Trump took office in January 2025, Target revealed that it would bring its diversity, equity, and inclusion programs to an end. The company also said they would stop engaging in demographic surveys. When asked to provide a statement about the call for a boycott, the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond.
Featured Image: screenshot from embedded video