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Demonstrators in Los Angeles attend a candlelight vigil after the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Alex Pretti in Minneapolis on Saturday. Caroline Brehman\/AP<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\tGet your news from a source that\u2019s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily.<\/a><\/p>\n The nation\u2019s largest union of registered nurses fervently renewed their demand to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement and cease current deportation operations in American cities after a federal immigration agent shot and killed<\/a> Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old registered nurse, in Minneapolis on Saturday.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe nation\u2019s nurses,\u201d National Nurses United, which has more than 225,000 members nationwide, began in a statement, \u201cwho make it their mission to care for and save human lives, are horrified and outraged that immigration agents have once again committed cold-blooded murder of a public observer who posed no threat to them.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis time,\u201d they continued, \u201cthey have executed one of our fellow nurses.\u201d<\/p>\n Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse, was doing what nurses do best \u2014 taking action to protect his community \u2014 when he was killed by federal agents.<\/p>\n Nurses are outraged by this heinous murder. It\u2019s time to abolish ICE now!<\/p>\n \u2014 National Nurses United (@NationalNurses) January 24, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n The border patrol agent who killed<\/a> Pretti fired more than 10 shots in five seconds toward the nurse, according<\/a> to the New York Times. Pretti, a US citizen and Minneapolis local, worked in the intensive care unit at a Veterans Affairs hospital. Videos detail<\/a> the last moments leading up to his death: He was directing traffic on the street while filming immigration agents, attempted to assist another observer who was pushed to the ground by immigration enforcement, pepper-sprayed by the agent who ends up shooting him, and tackled by several agents onto the street.\u00a0<\/p>\n At some point in this interaction, according to the Times analysis, federal agents appear to pull a firearm from near Pretti\u2019s right hip and carry it away. According to officials<\/a>, Pretti held a firearms permit, required by state law in Minnesota to carry a handgun. Department of Homeland Security officials have posted<\/a> a photo of a gun they claim belongs to Pretti.\u00a0The Border Patrol Union claimed<\/a> that Pretti \u201cbrandishes\u201d a weapon\u2014though videos show him holding a phone, not a gun, in his hand to record the agents. A witness on the scene has testified<\/a> that she saw no sign of Pretti holding a gun at any point.<\/p>\n Within seconds, a Border Patrol agent\u2014whose identity has yet to be confirmed\u2014shoots and kills Pretti, who lies motionless as other observers record<\/a> and cry out.\u00a0<\/p>\n Pretti is the third person shot and second person killed by immigration agents in the Minneapolis area in less than a month. On January 7, ICE agent Jonathan Ross shot and killed<\/a> Ren\u00e9e Nicole Good, also 37, while in her car. One week later, a federal agent shot<\/a> a man in the leg. That man, who DHS claimed was a Venezuelan national who was a target in an immigration operation, was taken to the hospital with a non-life-threatening injury.<\/p>\n The nurses union wrote Saturday that ICE and all related immigration enforcement agencies \u201chave been kidnapping hard-working people\u2014mothers, fathers, and children\u2014and now murdered a registered nurse, one of the most trusted professions in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n In the hours after his killing, colleagues of Pretti\u2019s remembered him as a kind, dedicated nurse.\u00a0<\/p>\n A colleague of Pretti\u2019s, Ruth Anway, told<\/a> the New York Times that he \u201cwanted to be helpful, to help humanity and have a career that was a force of good in the world.\u201d Anway, a nurse, said that Pretti was interested in social justice issues, adding, \u201cI\u2019m not surprised he was out there protesting and observing.\u201d<\/p>\n This isn\u2019t the first time that National Nurses United has spoken out against President Donald Trump and his administration\u2019s violent<\/a> immigration enforcement campaign across the nation. Consistently, over several months, the union has posted statements in support<\/a> of immigrants\u2019 rights and against<\/a> immigration agents\u2019 tactics<\/a>. After Good was killed, it wrote, \u201cArmed federal agents on our streets and in our communities, not immigrant workers, are the biggest threat to our collective safety.\u201d<\/p>\n Just one day before Pretti was killed, the union called<\/a> for Congress to abolish ICE and to reject the Homeland Security Appropriations bill, which would give more money<\/a> to Trump\u2019s anti-immigration force. The spending package passed the House with several Democrats voting in support and is now headed for the Senate\u2014where key Democrats, following Pretti\u2019s killing, are threatening<\/a> to block the bill.<\/p>\n \u201cMake no mistake,\u201d the nurses union wrote<\/a> Friday, \u201cthe terror we are experiencing is being subsidized by our own government.\u201d \u201cNurses,\u201d it continued, \u201cknow that our vision for a healthy society is possible and we will not stop fighting until it is a reality.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t