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.

Alex’s homicide comes just 17 days after ICE agent Jonathan Ross fatally shot Renee Nicole Good at point-blank range while she sat in her car. These killings are echoed in deaths linked to ICE’s actions, from shootings to detention-related deaths, including Keith Porter, Herber Sanchez Domínguez, Victor Manuel Diaz, Parady La, Luis Beltran Yanez-Cruz, Luis Gustavo Nunez Caceres, Geraldo Lunas Campos, and countless others whose names never reached national headlines.

At the time of this writing, ICE agents have carried out 27 shootings and killed at least nine people across the United States. They have also instilled fear and terror in communities by entering schools and hospitals, abducting children, and committing numerous other atrocities. They have acted not as trained, transparent federal law enforcement officers, but as agents of intimidation, wearing plain clothes and hiding their identities.

A reliance on misleading narratives.

Each time news of ICE’s excessive force reaches the public, those in power promote a familiar narrative. They defend the perpetrators and highlight the alleged “moral failings” or actions of victims, using those claims to justify the violence. These false narratives aim to keep the public uninformed, delay or obstruct investigations, and cultivate fear. The killing of Alex Pretti exposes the emptiness of these rationalizations, which have been used to justify violence against Black, Brown, Indigenous, and other people of color for generations. Pretti did not fit the profile these narratives typically rely on: He was a white male with no criminal record and a permit to conceal and carry a firearm. None of this mattered to the ICE agents who tackled and disarmed Alex before shooting him, even though he did not present an immediate threat, a fact confirmed in bystander video. We are not saying Alex’s death is more consequential because of these traits. We are saying the notion of ‘playing by the rules’ no longer rings true.

There will never be a “safe” victim. We will always fall short of the standards used to excuse state violence. Those in power will always find a rationale to justify these killings. Extrajudicial killings violate democratic principles, and we must demand transparency, accountability, and an end to this violence.

Public trust in nurses comes with an obligation.

The public places tremendous trust in the more than 5 million nurses throughout the United States. With that trust comes a duty, an obligation, and the power to lead our communities towards health and safety by speaking out and standing up against violence and the harms being done to our communities by ICE. During the peak of COVID, we were called heroes, and we must now ask ourselves what heroism looks like today. Nurses know action is necessary, yet many don’t know where to start. Pins and badge reels let those closest to us see that we are calling for change, but our message must reach further. Our local, state, regional, and national nursing leaders must not only demand full transparency and accountability, but also be willing to use their positions, voices, and platforms to advocate boldly, mobilize our profession, and stand firmly with the communities we serve.

Silence is not neutrality.

Many of us in this country have been privileged to live in a democracy that promises life, liberty, and dignity. That privilege is becoming more fragile each day. At this moment, we risk losing it if we do not take a stand. Silence is not neutrality. It is complicity and complacency, which carry consequences for all of us.

We have a responsibility to use the trust that millions have placed in us and the power that comes with it to say clearly and plainly: state violence is not acceptable. We must join the many voices calling for accountability, transparency, and an immediate end to ICE’s use of fear, violence, and killings in our communities. Nurses know every human life is deserving of respect regardless of who the victim is or what narrative is used to justify harm. We must be on the right side of history

Jessica Page Sherman, PhD, MSN, RN, The Ohio State University (OSU) College of Nursing
Nathaniel Albright, PhD, MSN, RN, OSU Wexner Medical center System
Audrey Brockman, BSN, RN, OSU College of Nursing
Heather Jones, DNP, public health nurse
Jin Jun, PhD, RN, OSU College of Nursing
Laura I. Tison, BSN, RN
Holly Ann Williams, PhD, RN, retired