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“ICE MESSED WITH THE WRONG PROFESSION”: THE COUNTRY’S LARGEST
NURSES’ UNION HONORS ALEX PRETTI  
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Maximillian Alvarez
February 9, 2026
In These Times
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_ In the wake of an ICU nurse’s murder by federal agents, National
Nurses United has joined calls to abolish ICE. _

Anti-ICE vigil in honor of Alex Pretti and others murdered by ICE at
Sutter CPMC Van Ness Campus Hospital in San Francisco, Calif. on
January 28., Scott Strazzante/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images


 

Hundreds of union nurses, federal workers, and local residents
gathered outside the Veterans Affairs central office building in
Washington, D.C., on Jan. 28, to hold a vigil for Alex Pretti,
murdered by CBP agents on Jan. 24, and all who have been killed by
ICE. The vigil was one of many events organized or co-sponsored by
National Nurses United, the nation’s largest union and professional
association of registered nurses, which has forcefully called for ICE
to be abolished in the wake of Pretti’s killing. We speak with
attendees of the vigil in this on-the-ground edition of _Working
People_.

MAXIMILLIAN ALVAREZ: Welcome, everyone to this on-the-ground edition
of Working People, a podcast about the lives, jobs, dreams, and
struggles of the working class today. Working People is a proud
member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network, and is brought to you in
partnership with _In These Times_ _Magazine_ and The Real News
Network. The show is produced by Jules Taylor and made possible by the
support of listeners like you.

It is Wednesday, January 28, and I am here in Washington, D.C.,
outside the Veterans Affairs Central Office building, where union
nurses and hundreds of D.C. residents are holding a vigil for Alex
Pretti and all those who have been killed by ICE. This vigil is one of
many events this week organized or co-sponsored by National Nurses
United, the nation’s largest union of registered nurses.

As the union stated on their website, ​“It’s happened. Federal
immigration agents have murdered one of our own, ICU registered nurse
Alex Pretti, who saved veterans’ lives at the Minneapolis VA. Pretti
upheld his oath to advocate for and protect his patients and community
to the very end as a peaceful, public legal observer of ICE
atrocities. Join National Nurses United RN members in a week-long
series of actions to honor Pretti and demand that Congress vote to
immediately abolish this violent, racist, and lawless agency that
poses a dire public health threat to all of our communities.
Pretti’s death will not be in vain. ICE messed with the wrong
profession. We nurses will fight to abolish ICE and bring about
a vision for a healthy society based on nurses’ values of caring,
compassion, and community.”

JOHN KERRY: My name is John Kerry. I’m an ICU nurse at Washington
Hospital Center here in D.C. We all came out here today to honor his
sacrifice in Minneapolis over the weekend.

I’m a 32-year-old ICU nurse. Alex was 37. In many ways I could be
Alex Pretti, except I’ve never done something that brave. If he can
give his life for someone else, I can come together with nurses
across the country to help protect others in our hospital, in our
neighborhoods, and all over the city.

We help people every day in the hospital, but for Alex to leave work
and then still find the time to go out and help others in this
community, especially during this time with ICE roaming around,
kidnapping people off the streets, it’s a reminder that there’s
so much more we as nurses can do. We also need to be talking about how
we can come together and protect those who are undocumented, people of
color, people at risk of being kidnapped and killed by ICE.

National Nurses United is calling for the abolition of ICE. That means
that we will be hitting the streets, joining protests, joining vigils
to make that ICE knows, that the government knows, that Democrats and
Republicans in Congress know that nurses all over the country are fed
up with the police state that is being instituted across the nation,
tired of the racism that we’re seeing in our streets as ICE picks up
random people of color. It is a call to action for us to organize and
reaffirm our commitment to our patients in the hospital and the
communities we serve.

We all should be angry, and we should be sad, and we should let that
pissed-off feeling fuel us. Get us out on the streets, get us out of
our comfort zone, get us out talking with each other, organizing. The
only way you can truly honor Alex’s sacrifice is by working together
to build something that is worth his life. We hope that you at home
join us and work with us to make Alex’s sacrifice worth it.

AVI: I’m Avi. I’m a federal worker, speaking in my personal
capacity. We came out today after work, of course to mourn the loss of
Alex Pretti’s life, but more importantly, to honor his life. Alex
lost his life defending a woman in his community, and his death
shouldn’t have happened. So here tonight, we call for justice, for
accountability, and for an end to the violence that ICE has been
perpetrating on our communities.

I’d like to add that I also came here with my friends from my local
church. We came out because we believe that all life is precious, and
Alex’s especially.

MIA: Hi, my name is Mia. I’ve been living in D.C. for about five
years now. I’m in school currently to become a nurse, and I’ve
been protesting for years for Black Lives Matter and other causes. But
this is especially important to me because I’m half Mexican and half
Jamaican, and I have family members who are immigrants. So standing
up to ICE means a lot to me.

The fact that I saw an innocent man be killed and we’re being lied
to about it really hurt me. 

Again, as a Black and Hispanic person, the fact that I’m seeing
innocent white people dying now, I’m like, _what does that mean for
me?_ I already felt afraid for my life, and now knowing that
innocent, regular Americans, everyday Americans, are dying as
well — I already felt the fear, but I’m like, _wow, I really
don’t have hope now._

ALVAREZ: I’ve heard from a lot of your fellow health care workers
that when they saw the video of Alex, they recognized an instinctive
response that all nurses feel and identify with. Did you feel that way
watching it?

MIA: Definitely. You get into this work because you want to help
people. That’s what he was all about. That’s what nurses do. We
have to be as empathetic as possible to anyone’s situation. We are
here to care about people, and that’s what he was doing, even at the
end. He was taking care of a woman, making sure she was okay, when he
lost his life.

SUSAN BROOKSMITH: Hi, I’m Susan Brooksmith and I’m here because of
this horrible weekend and what’s going on in Minneapolis. I’ve
been in awe of the people in Minneapolis, and just incredible. Both
Renee and Alex were trying to help their community, and I want to
help my community, too.

NADINE SEILER: My name is Nadine Seiler. We are standing here because
Alex Pretti was murdered by ICE agents in Minnesota on January 24,
2026. I shouldn’t have to be out standing in the cold in front of
the Veterans Administration because of ICE murdering people in the
United States.

One of the architects who helped build the Department of Homeland
Security said that he would detonate the version of the Department of
Homeland Security right now. It’s working against the people of the
United States and dangerous. If he is saying that I think we need to
listen. And I am here because I have been in this country going on
39 years. I came on a plane but I overstayed and I was illegal
for how many years until I got myself straight. I had been in this
country for years without ever fearing for my safety from the
government. Once he [Trump] got into office, and especially now that
he came in a second term, I don’t feel safe in this country for
the first time. As somebody who was undocumented for many
years – traveled through America without fear for my safety from
the government – now I am fearing for my life. I’m anxious
every day, actually, probably on the hour, on the minute.

ALVAREZ: I want to thank everyone who spoke with me on this frigid
evening. Thank you all for listening and for caring. We’ll be back
next week for another episode of Working People. And if you can’t
wait that long, then please explore all the great work at The Real
News Network, where we do grassroots journalism that lifts up the
voices and stories from the front lines of struggle. Sign up for The
Real News newsletter so you never miss a story. This is Maximillian
Alvarez signing off from Washington, D.C. Solidarity forever.

_This episode of the _Working People Podcast
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was published on Feb 1. _

Maximillian Alvarez
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editor-in-chief at the Real News Network and host of the podcast
_Working People_, available at InThe​se​Times​.com. He is also
the author of _The Work of Living: Working People Talk About Their
Lives and the Year the World Broke_.

 

* National Nurses United; Alex Pretti; ICE;
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