Justice for Alex Pretti

January 24, 2026

Dear AFGE and AFL-CIO Leadership - 

Today, January 24, 2026, Border Patrol/ICE murdered one of our own AFGE members, a VA nurse, Alex J. Pretti. Alex was an ICU nurse at the Veterans Health Administration. Alex was also an AFGE member of local 3669. He saved lives - and today, he lost his.  We mourn him as a fellow member, and we abhor that the agents who assaulted and then killed him were represented by the same union as he was.  This is disgusting and not something we, as unionists and AFGE members, support, nor will we continue to fund a union that represents neither our members, our communities, nor the public good if action is not taken. We demand you immediately condemn this killing, move to stop representing Customs and Border Patrol, and support a DOJ investigation of the officers involved. The officer involved could also be a member of this union. This is in direct conflict with our values in labor, particularly in this historical moment. 

We will not sit silently in support of CBP and ICE killing our neighbors and terrorizing our cities and communities. 

DHS Leadership and Customs and Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have persistently violated the 1st, 2nd, and 4th Amendment rights of our neighbors, whether immigrant, refugee, or citizen - and this morning, they killed one of our members in the street and immediately blamed him for his own death.  While we do not yet know the details of this matter, we can be almost certain that DOJ will refuse to investigate the killing, as they have already done with the killing of Renee Nicole Good - while launching an investigation into her and her spouse, prompting the resignation of six career federal prosecutors in protest. 

We have repeatedly raised the issue of CBP’s unlawful and unconstitutional behavior with our leadership, and what we’ve heard from AFGE leadership and our Democrat representatives in Congress  that this is a ‘training issue’.  This is not a training issue - this is a policy and practice issue.  This is willful and systematic violation of the rule of law and the constitution.   The agent who shot and killed Alex Pretti reportedly had 8 years of experience with the agency, and immediately following the shooting, CBP head Gregory Bovino made a statement today that the agent who killed Pretti was ‘highly trained’ and that Pretti was armed and wanted to do ‘maximum damage to agents’.

All signs point to incidents like this continuing if concerted action is not taken.  A leaked memo indicated that ICE and CBP have been directed that they can enter any private home without a judicial warrant.  We’ve seen video of several heavily armed agents lined up outside modest homes.  We’ve supported friends and family as they’ve organized community patrols outside of elementary schools and food delivery to families too scared to leave their homes.  We’ve heard stories of ICE and CBP dragging people out of their homes in their pajamas in sub-zero temperatures, leaving children unattended after detaining their parents, dragging teachers out of daycare centers, and even detaining children as young as 5 years old who are lawfully in this country.   While there may be some officers who do not engage in and do not agree with this behavior, the fact remains that we are all less safe, and that our constitutional rights are at risk as long as ICE and CBP continue to operate with impunity. 

We ask you to show some courage.   We ask you to uphold the most fundamental principle of unionism - that an injury to one is an injury to all.  We ask you to stand by your members who provide critical care to our nations Veterans.  We ask you to abide by the responsibility you have to protect your members and ensure that government does not do harm to union members, its citizens and its residents.   AFGE is already losing membership due to the non-recognition of contracts across several federal agencies.  Despite our lack of real protections, we continued to support AFGE because we believed they would defend our rights.  The time to make good on that commitment is now.  

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