Nurses Have an Ethical Obligation to Demand Accountability for ICE Violence
The views expressed in this post are those of the authors, and do not represent the views of their employers or affiliated institutions, or of AJN and Wolters Kluwer.
On January 24, 2026, Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agents in Minneapolis shot and killed Alex Jeffrey Pretti, a 37-year-old nurse who worked in the intensive care unit at the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Alex died while upholding core nursing values of helping and supporting his community. While standing in opposition to the tactics used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Minneapolis, he was directing traffic and helping a woman being pepper-sprayed by CBP. These actions should not have cost him his life. It is now time for us, fellow nurses and leaders, to follow Alex Pretti’s example by advocating for our communities and upholding the core ethical principles of our discipline, including justice, beneficence, and nonmaleficence.




