The violent death of Alex Pretti on Saturday by ICE agents in Minnesota has become a code blue for America. He was an ICU nurse who cared for military veterans at a Veterans Affairs hospital. He was a U.S. citizen, a Boy Scout, and a beloved son. He definitely was not one of the undocumented people federal agents were sent to detain. Nothing about his life fits the narrative of a lawless person impeding the work of removing violent criminals who are not legally permitted in the United States.
As a physician who also works in an intensive care unit for infants, I recognized the moment that triggered his instinct to care for and protect the injured and vulnerable. Numerous bystander videos show that he came to the defense of two different women who were aggressively assaulted by ICE agents. His actions spoke loudly about his professional training as a critical care nurse (professional training that appears absent from those most recently carrying out ICE raids). As medical professionals, we are charged to “first, do no harm.” So, I know his training as an ICU nurse had taught him to perform his duties in chaotic, complex situations – even when he lacked resources and support to protect himself from harm.
Without question, this was another chaotic and violent incident during ongoing protests in Minnesota. Federal officials immediately took to the airwaves to demonize him. The familiar refrain of “Why didn’t he comply?” is already on repeat in the usual places. Though he exercised his rights to own a weapon and legally acquired a concealed carry permit, federal officials are arguing that anyone showing up to protest peacefully does not bring a gun. But these are not well-reasoned or logical arguments. They are just more examples of people grasping to make sense out of senseless situations. We likely cannot change the perspectives of those who allege that the ICE agents agitating and escalating the situation were in danger and feared for their lives.
For the rest of us, though, this is our moment of moral reckoning.
This is a moment that calls for all of us to act. Watching another video of a person being violently murdered by ICE agents will worsen our national mental health crisis. Our current nursing crisis means we cannot lose another nurse and make access to healthcare even harder to get. With prices for health insurance and groceries soaring beyond what people can afford, we must reject a reality in which we cannot afford to get sick or stay healthy.
Likewise, we cannot deny that America is critically ill and in need of intensive care. The symptoms include a government shutdown that kept babies from receiving SNAP benefits, children again dying from preventable infectious diseases like measles and whooping cough, and federal agents killing a U.S. citizen with no criminal record while exercising his First, Second, and Fourth Amendment rights. When the NRA speaks out against what happened, it shows that everyone understands how sick America really is.
Still, there is hope. With people pushing back against this federal administration’s unprecedented actions, they dropped their legal appeal over anti-DEI funding threats to schools and colleges. When they tried to remove funding for substance abuse and mental health services, that decision was reversed in less than 48 hours. Commander Greg Bovino was just relieved of his leadership over ICE raids in Minneapolis. Yes, elections have consequences, and the consequences demand actions. Keep pressuring elected officials to intervene against ICE agents using unnecessarily harsh tactics. Help your neighbors whose safety has been violated during indiscriminate ICE raids. Tell your local, state, and federal legislators to vote for bills that keep insurance affordable so people can get the care that Alex Pretti dedicated his life to giving. America is coding, and it will take all of us to resuscitate her.
Valencia P. Walker, MD, MPH, FAAP, is a Public Voices Fellow of The OpEd Project in partnership with the National Black Child Development Institute.
