Nation’s largest nurses union again affirms calls for abolition of ICE

National Nurses United (NNU), the largest union of registered nurses in the United States, is today condemning the latest murder by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, this time in Biddeford, Maine. NNU maintains that the only way forward on this issue of fascist authoritarian violence targeting communities nationwide is the abolition of ICE. This latest horror comes just days after ICE’s murder of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Texas. 

“ICE’s use of deadly force has been met with complete impunity despite mass calls for justice and for ICE’s abolition,” said Puneet Maharaj, executive director of NNU. “They are killing our neighbors in the streets, and no one in Washington seems prepared to hold them accountable. That’s an unacceptable situation, and it must be corrected. We need accountability for these murderers, and we need an end to ICE as an institution.”

“Our communities in Maine have already been subjected to horrors by these agents,” said Matthew MacDonald, RN in the surgical intensive care unit at Maine Medical Center in Portland. “It’s past time for ICE to get off our streets and out of our communities, and the people in power in Washington need to make that happen before more people are killed by their federal agents.”

The Trump administration continues to spread terror in nurses’ communities by targeting innocent people of color through “Kavanaugh stops” that empower agents to target victims based on racial profiling. The fundamental orientation of ICE’s so-called enforcement activity is overt racism, tragically resulting once again in deadly force, as overt racism so often has throughout history. Meanwhile, Congress and the White House have advanced a legislative class war against working people, defunding hundreds of hospitals to fund ICE.

Significantly, the current administration and its cronies are also criminalizing dissent against this campaign of terror. From federal charges against anti-ICE protesters in Minnesota to sentencing protesters and activists in Texas to raiding the offices of non-profit organizations in Ohio, these coordinated attacks are aimed to undermine our democracy and strip away our freedoms. 

Nurses are committed to building the solidarity needed to protect our patients and communities from these escalating attacks by officials under the Trump administration. NNU has consistently called for ICE’s abolition, and nurses have taken several actions to demand an end to this campaign of community harassment and endangerment.

NNU represents more than 225,000 nurses across the nation and advocates for policies and legislation that improve the lives of nurses and communities everywhere.  

National Nurses United is the largest and fastest-growing union and professional association of registered nurses in the United States with more than 225,000 members nationwide. NNU affiliates include California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, DC Nurses Association, Michigan Nurses Association, Minnesota Nurses Association, and New York State Nurses Association.