More than two dozen people sang hymns, prayed and protested on an Oxnard street corner on Feb. 18. Many wore ashes in the shape of a cross on their forehead. One woman carried a sign bearing Our Lady of Guadalupe.
“Her love melts ICE,” the placard said.
Episcopalians, Mennonites, Lutherans and others gathered in vigil and protest on a chilly Ash Wednesday on North Oxnard Boulevard in front of a Target store. They came, as part of a national call of action, to demand the Minnesota-headquartered business publicly oppose U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions and deny entrance to federal agents who lack warrants.
Or as they put it, they came to “sing the doors down.”
“This is what Jesus called us to do,” said Tim Nafziger, a Mennonite and web designer from Ventura. “Show up and support the people who are attacked by the powerful.”
They stood on the street corner holding signs with sayings including “Lenten Commitment: ICE Out.” Passing motorists honked. Instead of chanting, the protesters sang out their prayers.
“We are here with our voices,” they sang. “And our love for each other will carry us through.”
They focused on Target, contending the chain has allowed ICE to use its parking lots to stage its operations. They said that by not speaking out, Target is complicit in the violence of immigration enforcement actions in Minneapolis, California and elsewhere.
“The horror of what ICE is doing in our neighborhoods, to our neighbors, in our communities, we’ve got to push back at every possible place that we can,” said Elaine Enns, an Oak View resident and part of the Abundant Table Farm Church.
Target corporate officials did not respond to a request for comment.
The Rev. Melissa Campbell-Langdell of All Saints Episcopal Church in Oxnard marked people’s foreheads with ashes. She noted that Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, is a time for repentance.
“We’re kind of calling on Target to repent,” she said.
The national call by the Mennonite Action movement also focuses on support for Palestine and opposes Christian nationalism. The Target action is billed as nonviolent but disruptive worship. Many of the protesters walked up Target’s outdoor stairway and stood outside the store, singing in prayer.
A handful of legal observers from the National Lawyers Guild stood nearby and watched the vigil, ready to monitor if law enforcement officers responded. They did not.
As the sun set behind them, the protesters displayed a list of names of people killed in dealings with ICE, including Renee Nicole Good, who was shot at a Minneapolis protest.
“In God we trust,” they sang.
Four members of the group walked into a store with a petition calling on Target leaders to post signs denying entrance to immigration agents that don’t have warrant, train employees on how to respond if agents arrive and calling on Congress to end ICE funding.
The demands were presented to a store employee at the exchange and returns counter. The group sang a final song and then returned to the street corner.
George Bohrer, of Ojai, stood with the group holding a cane. He’s 76 and used an escalator to join the vigil outside the store. He offered a simple explanation for his presence and his concerns about immigration enforcement.
“We are called on to care and love for our neighbors,” he said.
Tom Kisken covers health care and other news for the Ventura County Star. Reach him at tom.kisken@vcstar.com.
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This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Ash Wednesday vigil outside Oxnard Target takes aim at retailer, ICE
Reporting by Tom Kisken, Ventura County Star / Ventura County Star
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