Hundreds gathered outside the Jesse Brown Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center on the Near West Side to honor Alex Pretti, who was shot to death Saturday by two Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis, as well as all others killed by federal immigration enforcement. Pretti, a 37-year-old U.S. citizen born in northwest suburban Streamwood, worked as an ICU nurse for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in Minnesota. The group, many of them nurses still wearing badges after walking from their nearby workplaces, performed a Nightingale Tribute — a traditional send off for nurses — while calling for ICE to be abolished and pushing for a general strike modeled after one in Minneapolis.
In a social media landscape shaped by hashtags, algorithms, and viral posts, nurse leaders must decide: Will they let the narrative spiral, or can they adapt and join the conversation?
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