OPEIU mourns the murder of our union brother, AFGE member and VA nurse Alex Pretti, by the United States Border Patrol. We condemn in the strongest terms the rising tide of state-sponsored violence that also took the life of Renée Good earlier this month. 

These killings are part of a clear campaign of intimidation that aims to divide us. Countless people — workers, neighbors, friends, family members, citizens and noncitizens — have been terrorized and brutalized by federal immigration authorities. As a union, the right to free expression, association and speech is sacrosanct. Targeting people for expressing those rights is unconscionable. 

We stand in full solidarity with the people of Minnesota and call on congressional leaders to have the courage required to take a stand against this senseless violence by refusing to fund ICE's unlawful and barbaric operations.