What started as viral outrage has now turned into retail theater.
In Minnesota, anti-ICE activists have found a new way to vent their anger: clogging up store return lines. At a Target in Edina, roughly 70 protesters reportedly lined up to return bags of salt they had just purchased, deliberately slowing business as a symbolic jab at Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Crazy libs in Edina, Minnesota, went and bought tons of salt just to return it to protest ICE.
Annoying random workers to stick it to the man lol pic.twitter.com/x4jOMQxQdt
— Cassandra MacDonald (@CassandraRules) January 20, 2026
The stunt stems from a broader wave of anti-ICE activism sweeping the state after recent immigration enforcement actions. On January 13, videos circulated online showing ICE agents detaining two Target employees at a Richfield, Minnesota location. In one clip, an employee shouted, “I’m a US citizen!” while being forced into an SUV after filming the agents and shouting expletives.
Days later, activists escalated their protests inside retail stores.
Footage from January 17–18 shows crowds inside Target participating in what organizers described as “melting ICE”—buying salt as a symbol and then returning it en masse. The goal wasn’t subtle: disrupt normal operations and pressure corporations perceived to be cooperating with ICE enforcement.
Clips of the Edina Target scene quickly spread on X, drawing sharp criticism.
One user, @JebraFaushay, shared the video and claimed, “People are returning salt to their local Target stores in an act of solidarity against ICE. The woman filming this video says that ICE is kidnapping Target employees.”
Another post was less sympathetic. Sharing the same footage, a different X user wrote, “Crazy libs in Edina, Minnesota, went and bought tons of salt just to return it to protest ICE. Annoying random workers to stick it to the man lol.”
The frustration wasn’t limited to casual observers. X user @BasedBandita blasted the protest as pointless and performative, writing, “Imagine having no life that you go to Target, purchase salt, then stand in line just to return it as a ‘form of protest’ towards a company more leftist than each and every one of them. This happened in Edina, MN, and all it proved was out of touch liberals love to annoy Target employees.”
All of the posts referenced the same video and made identical claims—and in this case, those claims hold up. The Edina Target footage matches reports from the protests, confirming that the salt-buying return line was intentional and coordinated.
This wasn’t an isolated tactic either. Similar disruptions have been reported elsewhere, including activists in California buying and returning ice scrapers at Home Depot to protest ICE operations.
While activists frame these stunts as resistance, critics argue they do little beyond harassing retail workers, inconveniencing customers, and turning everyday stores into political battlegrounds—all while ICE continues enforcing federal law.
People are returning salt to their local Target stores in an act of solidarity against ICE.
The woman filming this video says that ICE is kidnapping Target employees. pic.twitter.com/uuTWCHoFn0
— Dr. Jebra Faushay (@JebraFaushay) January 20, 2026
