American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten is promoting a nationwide boycott of Target because the retailer has not condemned federal immigration enforcement in Minnesota.

The campaign arrives as parents prepare for another expensive school season and students continue struggling with reading and mathematics.

Rather than concentrating union muscle on classroom performance, Weingarten wants members and families to punish a major retailer for refusing to adopt the union’s position on ICE.

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Apparently, selling notebooks and pencils now requires a formal immigration manifesto.

“We gave Target ample time to stand with the communities in which they operate and help their neighbors, but its silence about federal immigration abuses has been deafening,” Weingarten said in a statement.

The union launched its campaign after sending letters to Target CEO Michael Fiddelke in February and March.

Weingarten also promoted the AFT’s “Shop Smart, Not Target” website, which directs families toward alternative stores for school supplies.

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The AFT’s March resolution explicitly described the effort as a boycott and called on its 1.8 million members, their families, and political allies to avoid Target.

WATCH:

The pressure campaign is supposed to continue until the company publicly sides with union leaders in the Twin Cities.

The Department of Homeland Security rejected the union’s description of ICE operations and defended the agency’s legal authority.

“ICE enforces federal immigration laws, protects public safety, and conducts enforcement pursuant to federal laws and applicable agency policies. Target is not a sensitive location,” an ICE spokesperson said.

DHS also denied that immigration agents are targeting schools or children.

The agency said officers conduct targeted operations against people who are in the country unlawfully, including dangerous offenders who might attempt to use sensitive locations to avoid arrest.

“This is just another false narrative to try and demonize our brave ICE law enforcement, who are facing a 1,300% increase in assaults against them and an 8,000% increase in death threats,” the spokesperson said.

The agency maintained that people placed into removal proceedings receive due process before final orders are carried out.

DHS blamed escalating threats against officers partly on activists and politicians who portray routine immigration enforcement as a campaign of terror.

The boycott is also drawing questions about the union’s financial influence over Target.

Corey DeAngelis, a Heritage Foundation research fellow, argued that AFT members’ pension funds own 6.79 million shares of the retailer, creating potential fiduciary concerns.

“This partisan war on Target smells like a breach of fiduciary duty given that AFT members’ pension funds own 6.79 million shares of Target stock, which Weingarten has already leveraged to pressure the company into opposing ICE,” DeAngelis said.

DeAngelis called for the Department of Justice to investigate whether union leaders are using pension assets and political pressure to force companies into supporting their agenda.

He also said encouraging educators and families to avoid Target was not an appropriate use of union resources or influence.

Target stock has surged +51% since Randi Weingarten’s 1st letter pressuring them to condemn ICE.

Her union passed a resolution on March 26 urging members not to shop at Target for back-to-school.

They just released a tool pushing people to shop elsewhere instead.

Epic fail. pic.twitter.com/fhvRYui9jv

— Corey A. DeAngelis, school choice evangelist (@DeAngelisCorey) August 22, 2026

Federal scrutiny was already being requested before the latest boycott promotion.

Sen. Eric Schmitt of Missouri asked the Labor Department in July to examine whether AFT officials coordinated with retirement plan fiduciaries to use members’ assets for political purposes.

House lawmakers have separately demanded information about reports that union dues helped finance Weingarten’s book, “Why Fascists Fear Teachers,” while she received royalties.

Those questions add another layer to concerns about whether union resources are serving educators or advancing the political brand of union leadership.

Sonja Shaw, a candidate for California superintendent of public instruction and president of the Chino Valley Unified School District board, said labor leaders are prioritizing power while students fall behind.

California assessments showed only 48.8% of students met or exceeded English language arts standards, while just 37.3% did so in mathematics.

“Teachers’ unions are supposed to fight for teachers. Instead, union leadership has become a political machine obsessed with money, power and influence while our children continue to fall behind,” Shaw said.

“In California, more than half our students are not proficient in basic reading and math.”

Teachers spend an average of $895 of their own money each year on classroom supplies, according to a 2025 teacher spending survey.

Yet the AFT is using the shopping season to stage an immigration protest instead of addressing why educators face those costs or why so many children remain academically unprepared.

Target and the AFT did not immediately respond to requests for further comment.

For families watching prices, test scores, and classroom quality, the episode offers another example of a teachers union acting like a political organization first and an education advocate somewhere far down the list.

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