Alex Pretti, an AFGE Local 3669 member and ICU nurse, fought for his community until the very moment ICE agents took him from us. Faced with masked officers harassing his neighbors, Alex did what working people do when repression shows up at their door: He bore witness. He used his phone to film and placed his body between the armed agents and two fellow Minneapolis residents.
For this act of solidarity, federal agents brutally beat and executed him.
The official story from DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and President Trump is a lie. They frame Alex as a violent maniac. The truth, visible on video and admitted even by the New York Times, is far more chilling:
“The agent in the gray coat removes the weapon … from the scene. Then, while Mr. Pretti is on his knees and restrained, the agent standing directly above him appears to fire one shot at Mr. Pretti at close range. He immediately fires three additional shots … Together, they fire six more shots at Mr. Pretti while he lies motionless on the ground.”
Who was Alex Pretti? He was not a stranger. He was one of us — a worker.
For 40 years, his union, AFGE Local 3669, has represented the thousand-plus workers at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center — one of the largest health care facilities in the Midwest. The hours are demanding. The work is a daily struggle against staffing shortages and relentless union-busting.
I worked with Local 3669 for nearly four years as a staff attorney. I saw firsthand the workers who make it a fighting union. During the brutal height of COVID-19, they were the ones who stayed at their posts, caring for our sick veterans at great personal risk. Alex was among them.
VA management brags about serving veterans, but senior executives and political appointees have little to do with the actual care. It is workers like Alex who provide it.
Licensed practical nurses. Registered nurses. Radiology techs. Housekeeping and maintenance staff. These are the people who make the VA run. They care for a veteran community plagued by substance abuse, mental illness, and chronic health problems born from systemic neglect.
Every single day, the members of Local 3669 commit to this hard work in the face of massive resource shortages. They have endured cutbacks, union-busting, and McCarthy-era surveillance, and they have remained strong.
Alex’s Local is a prominent one, known for its legacy of struggle. It has produced national union leaders. And now, it has produced a martyr — because repression always does.
The attack on Alex — like the attack on Renee Good — was an attack on every worker and every union that represents them. When ICE killed Renee, they sent a warning to working communities. When ICE killed Alex, they escalated it — making clear that witnesses, organizers, and union members are all targets.
To treat this as anything less than a declaration of war on our class is a disservice to the labor movement and to the life Alex lived.
Labor must now take this struggle into its own hands. We must choose, unequivocally, to fight for the lives of our members — lives like Alex Pretti’s. His fight is our fight. His execution must be our call to organize.