MEDICAL DISTRICT — Local nurses and military veterans gathered outside Chicago’s veterans hospital Tuesday in a show of solidarity for Alexi Pretti as backlash swells nationally to his killing by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis.
A peaceful crowd laid white roses at a growing memorial for Pretti outside the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center, 820 S. Damen Ave., before marching around the building with signs and chants calling for the abolition of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Employees across local hospitals, from medical students to doctors, wore their work identifications on lanyards around their necks. They said Pretti, who was a 37-year-old intensive care nurse at a Minneapolis Veteran Affairs hospital, was doing his job of caring for others in his final moments, with video showing Pretti attempting to help up a civilian before seven agents pin him to the ground and shoot him multiple times.
Nurses and veterans placed white roses at a memorial for Alex Pretti outside Chicago’s veterans hospital on Jan. 27, 2026. Credit: Mack Liederman/Block Club Chicago
“I can’t help but see myself in Alex Pretti,” said Scott Mechanic, a local intensive care unit nurse. “This is a call to every health care worker, to every union member, to every American, to continue these acts of bravery, to confront ICE, to confront Border Patrol, wherever they show up.”
Pretti’s killing has led to an outpouring of support for the slain nurse as well as mass condemnation of federal immigration operations. Thousands turned out to a protest Downtown Sunday to denounce the slaying, and another local vigil for Pretti is scheduled for Wednesday night.
Reports indicate the Trump administration is expected to pull Greg Bovino out of Minneapolis, shortly after the controversial Border Patrol commander — who was found by a federal judge to have lied about prior operations in Chicago — made an unsubstantiated claim that Pretti was planning to “massacre” agents.
Videos show Pretti being disarmed of a concealed pistol he legally carried moments before agents opened fire. Trump has since tried to distance himself from false claims about Pretti, including a White House official calling him a “domestic terrorist,” while some Republicans openly criticize the federal immigration crackdown and Trump’s immigration approval ratings sink deeper.
“It feels like the tide may be turning and we may be winning,” Mechanic said. “Now that Americans can see the violence.”
A crowd of hospital workers holds signs calling for the abolition of ICE on Jan. 27, 2026, after the killing of Alex Pretti. Credit: Mack Liederman/Block Club Chicago
Pretti was a member of the American Federation of Government Employees, which inspired members of its Chicago branch as well as SEIU Healthcare, National Nurses United, the Chicago Teachers Union and other labor unions to join his vigil Tuesday.
“I think that America was struck by the gravity of what happened on that street this last Saturday in a way that felt different,” said Bob Reiter, president of the Chicago Federation of Labor. “But let me tell you, this should not have caught anyone by surprise.”
A viral video shows Pretti giving a veteran his final salute after his death inside the Veterans Affairs hospital where he worked. Pretti’s parents said in a statement that he was a “good man” who “cared deeply for his family and friends and also the American veterans [for] whom he cared.” Pretti had participated in Minneapolis protests after an ICE agent killed Renee Good Jan. 7, according to the Associated Press.
“This hits so close to home, because we work with people like Alex in the hospital every single day,” said Andrew Wilbur, a resident physician at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. “To see somebody who cares so deeply about our veterans, who shares the same values of putting patients first only to be killed for fulfilling his commitment to his community, is devastating.”
Daniel Lackemacher, a U.S. Navy veteran, said the federal government is “engaged in warfare against their own people.”
Pretti “was taking care of us,” Lackemacher said. “We are under attack.”
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