Despite icy wind and flurries of snow, members of the Iowa City community gathered together Sunday night in remembrance of Alex Pretti, a former intensive care unit nurse for the Department of Veterans Affairs in Minneapolis who was killed by Immigration Enforcement Agency, or ICE, agents on Jan. 24.
Pretti’s death is the sixth death associated with the Trump administration’s ongoing immigration campaign, according to the Associated Press. His death sparked outrage across the country, with an eruption of protests against the current immigration enforcement campaign and violence.
The American Federation of Government Employees represents over 800,000 government workers, including the Veteran Affairs, or VA, and medical personnel. The local Iowa City chapter, AFGE Local 2547, organized the vigil.
According to The American Federation of Government Employees website, Pretti was a member of AFGE 3669.
Aaron Williamson, a co-vice president of AFGE Local 2547, helped organize the event.
“It is up to us to defend our name,” Williamson said to the crowd. “To honor Alex’s legacy, we must stand together to continue our mission and to show this nation that we are worth our titles, worth our pay, and that it us who keeps our government going.”
Williamson’s statement addressed the many health care workers in the crowd, joined by a diverse group of veterans, advocates, professors, students, union members, and other community members. Many held up American flags, handmade posters, and signs reading “VA nurses save lives, Alex proved it.”
RELATED: IC community members bike in solidarity with Alex Pretti
“Don’t let them write our story for us. Remember Alex’s bravery in standing up. We must stand up for this cause and prove all the naysayers wrong,” Williamson said. “Authoritarianism can not survive without obedience and compliance.”
Mary Cohen, a University of Iowa professor, led the group in a song about the need for more love in the world.
Cohen said the vigil brings her that people are aware, interconnected, and care for each other.
“It feels like what’s happening right now is leadership having zero awareness of the fact that we are interconnected. And there’s such a need for that,” Cohen said. “The need for interconnectivity and the awareness of how anything I do impacts everyone else.”
Gabby Geno, a junior at Mid Prairie High School, attended the vigil with her parents.
“I just say if you can get involved, do it,” she said.“Where you can, do what you will… It’s just basic human rights to just treat people kindly. It’s not a hard concept to understand, but apparently it is to some people.”
Following the messages and stories shared by speakers and a moment of silence in dedication to Pretti, the crowd lined the street and held signs, flags, and lights as cars passed by.
“We as members of this community will need to band together in solidarity to speak up for what is right, call out the atrocities as they happen, and ask for others to join with us to continue to stand up for those in need and protect our community members,” Williamson said.