Elected officials, faith leaders and community advocates gathered in New York on Tuesday outside the Target store at the Shops at Marble Hill on West 225th Street, demanding that the retailer and co-owner Kingsbridge Associates formally bar federal immigration agents from using the parking lot as a staging area.
Officials say residents have reported Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity in the lot for months, reportedly on a near-daily basis since March 2026. A letter sent October 5 by Bronx representatives to Kingsbridge reportedly went unanswered.
The demand follows the October 8 shooting of Oscar Belgal, 28, by federal agents in the neighbourhood. Belgal's five-year-old son was in the car at the time and was unharmed. City Comptroller Mark Levine described the lot at Tuesday's gathering as ICE's local base of operations and called on Target to make a public commitment.
Accounts of the shooting conflict. The Department of Homeland Security says Belgal endangered agents by driving at ICE vehicles; Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson has relayed residents' accounts of hearing seven shots and running for cover. Body-camera footage has been promised but not yet released.
Target says it has no formal agreement with ICE and was unaware of the activity until last week, a position Kingsbridge echoed — prompting State Senator Gustavo Rivera to argue that an explicit ban would make any unauthorised use of the lot trespassing.
