Nurses Rally Against ICE after Slaying of One of Their Own

By Noemi Castanon

Photography By Destiny Lewis

Reporting Texas

Over 100 people, many of them nurses, moved by the death of one of their own, gathered outside Ascension Seton Medical Center for a candlelight vigil to honor Alex Pretti, the Minneapolis nurse killed by federal immigration officers.

“Tonight, we gather not only to mourn Alex but to stand together and say clearly we demand care, not cruelty,” said Kristine Kittleson, chief nurse of National Nurses United and registered nurse at Ascension Seton Medical Center. 

The nurses’ group organized the vigil as part of a nationwide week of action in response to the shooting of Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care unit nurse at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center.  

“Alex was murdered, but his death is not the end of his story,” said Zach Lambert, pastor of the Restore Austin church. 

 

National Nurses United, the largest union and professional association of registered nurses in the U.S. since 2009, is urging Congress to abolish U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency charged with deportations and other immigration enforcement. .

“When enforcement brings fear, trauma and death to our communities, it is not protecting public health; it is harming us,” Kittleson said. “Agencies like ICE have become symbols of cruelty rather than care.”

At least eight people have died as a result of immigration enforcement so far this year, the Guardian reported this week, and 32 people died in ICE custody in 2025.

“Reach out to your neighbors and protect each other because right now what is going on in our country is unheard of,” said Monica Gonzalez, an Ascension Medical Center nurse. “It is unconstitutional. It is downright inhumane.” 

State Rep.  Donna Howard, D-Austin,  also a former ICU nurse present at the vigil, thanked the community for coming together.

“Minneapolis needs to know that we are standing with them,” Howard said.

Jay Gordon Mitchell, an Air Force veteran running in the March 3 Democratic primary in the 17th congressional district,  urged people to get registered and vote

“I am tired of watching our neighbors get executed by a corrupt government,” Mitchell said.

Austin resident Kit Begam urged people to join her and others for ongoing protests on Thursdays from 5-6 p.m. at 45th Street and Lamar Boulevard to continue the opposition to the federal immigration crackdown.

“I want to put in another little plug for another way to show your opposition to the brutality and cruelty that we are seeing on the media every day perpetrated by ICE,” Begam said.