Several people were detained at Chicago\u2019s West Loop Target Thursday night amid a protest outside the store to demand the retailer publicly denounce U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as it comes into the crosshairs over President Donald Trump\u2019s mass deportation campaign.<\/p>\n
The people were detained at the start of the protest as they tried to block exits and shut down the store, according to the People\u2019s Lobby, which organized the demonstration. Chicago police confirmed to the Tribune that seven adults, three men and four women, were each charged with criminal trespass to property.<\/p>\n
Thursday\u2019s protest, which brought out faith leaders and elected officials alongside dozens of demonstrators, was the latest in a series of actions that have sprung up across the Chicago area over the past week<\/a> in the wake of federal agents fatally shooting intensive care unit nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis last weekend.<\/p>\n \u201c(Target) has been complicit in some really awful stuff, and I think it\u2019s really important that we\u2019re holding them accountable in this way,\u201d Sunjay Kumar, who was among those arrested, said in a call with the Tribune Friday. \u201cAnd I think we did that.\u201d<\/p>\n Target is among the companies that organizers with \u201cICE Out of Minnesota\u201d have asked to take stronger public stances over ICE\u2019s presence in the state. Earlier this month, widely circulated videos showed federal agents detaining two Target employees in Minnesota.<\/p>\n A source familiar with the matter confirmed that Target does not have cooperative agreements with ICE or any other immigration enforcement agency.<\/p>\n Kumar, a 32-year-old Uptown community organizer who is running for the Illinois House in the 13th District, attended Thursday\u2019s protest both as a speaker and to take part in a civil disobedience action planned ahead of the demonstration, which involved blocking the store\u2019s doors. The idea was to do a short \u201cprogram\u201d inside the store directed at shoppers, followed by an outdoor program during which they\u2019d block foot traffic, according to Kumar.<\/p>\n The group knew going in that there was a potential misdemeanor charge associated with what they had planned, but they wanted to send a message.<\/p>\n \u201cBy putting our bodies on the line, by shutting this down, we are saying no,\u201d Kumar said. \u201cWe are showing a world in which we are making decisions based on what is just and what is right and not who is in power and who they\u2019ve decided to scapegoat.\u201d<\/p>\n The plan was to let people out of the store, just not to let them in, said Cate Readling, who was also arrested. A deep believer in nonviolent civil disobedience, the Oak Park resident said that for her, the action meant taking back agency.<\/p>\n \u201cThese are the things we can do,\u201d she said. \u201cWe are not powerless.\u201d<\/p>\n Carrying signs that read \u201cWhose side are you on?\u201d and \u201cStop corporate collusion with ICE,\u201d demonstrators pointed to Pretti\u2019s death and the killing of Renee Good in Minneapolis earlier this month as they called for Minneapolis-based Target to take a stronger stance against the Trump administration\u2019s immigration crackdown.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t want to see corporations take up space and not show up for us,\u201d former environmental justice organizer Emilio Rodriguez said outside the store. \u201cWe know that they put profits over people, and we want to show that we\u2019re not standing for that.\u201d<\/p>\n The 26-year-old, who lives in Bridgeport, said that while Target is headquartered in Minneapolis, \u201cwe have to take a stance worldwide to show that \u2026 if (they) want to continue to make a profit, (they\u2019re) going to have to listen to us.\u201d<\/p>\n Target has not commented on the videos of agents detaining two of its employees, though its incoming chief executive, Michael Fiddelke, sent a video message to the company\u2019s more than 400,000 workers Monday, calling recent violence \u201cincredibly painful,\u201d without directly mentioning immigration enforcement.<\/p>\n