Rally part of lobby event pushing lawmakers to fund care, not war abroad or at home

National Nurses United (NNU) nurses will rally in Washington, D.C. on Monday, April 13 to demand that Congress abolish ICE by immediately voting to cut off funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and to rescind the hundreds of billions in funding it received through the Republican budget bill H.R. 1 last year.

ICE has only existed for a couple of decades and now serves as a lawless paramilitary force that Trump uses to terrorize citizens and non-citizens alike, and to brutalize opponents of his authoritarian government. Allied unions and groups, as well as members of Congress, such as Senator Ed Markey and former Representative Cori Bush, are also expected to speak.

“Nurses believe everybody has the freedom to move and the freedom to stay in search of a better life,” said Jamie Brown, RN and president of NNU. “We demand that this war against immigrant communities ends now. Nurses don’t believe any human is illegal; we care for everyone.”

Who: Union nurses, Senator Ed Markey, former Representative Cori Bush, and others
What: Rally to abolish ICE
When: Monday, April 13, 2026 2-3 p.m.
Where: Upper Senate Park, 200 New Jersey Ave NW, Washington, D.C.

Nurses will be available at the rally for interviews. If you would like photos or b-roll of the event, please contact press@nationalnursesunited.org. Nurses from across the country will attend, including NNU affiliates New York State Nurses Association, Minnesota Nurses Association, Michigan Nurses Association, District of Columbia Nurses Association, California Nurses Association, and National Nurses Organizing Committee, as well as the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals (PASNAP) and Massachusetts Nurses Association.

The rally is part of NNU’s Nurses for Democracy 2026 Federal Lobby Day, a chance for union nurses to speak truth to Congress on behalf of their patients and communities about the dire social conditions working-class people in the country are facing under an authoritarian government. While President Trump continues to waste tens of billions of our taxpayer dollars to wage illegal wars around the globe that only further enrich himself and his family, his billionaire tech and Wall Street cronies, and corporations that profit off killing and destruction, hundreds of millions of people in the United States are suffering and dying without health care, food, decent housing, education, and other basic necessities.

Nurses will be asking both representatives and senators to support legislation to stop the multiple illegal wars Trump has started, to block weapons to Israel, to abolish ICE by yanking its funding, to tax billionaires, to end the U.S. blockade on Cuba, and more. Conversely, they will ask officials to oppose legislation that strips millions of citizens, particularly women and lower-income people, of their right to vote and to oppose any funding of ICE.

As members of the most trusted profession in the United States as well as the largest union and professional association of registered nurses, NNU nurses will be advocating for their vision of a healthy society where caring and compassion for the needs of working people drive our federal spending and policies, not cruelty and profits for the ultra-rich and corporations. To win programs such as Medicare for All and safe staffing standards in hospitals for patients, nurses know they must first defeat Trump’s fascist takeover of our democratic government and institutions.

“Nurses stand against everything this administration is doing,” said Brown. “Our whole mission is to heal patients and win the social conditions that help people live healthy lives. We are beyond angry that Trump is spending our taxpayer dollars to illegally bomb countries like Iran and Lebanon into obliteration while we are completely abandoning our own people. We could be using that money to fund health care for all, to feed people, to provide housing, and more. We will be in D.C. to demand that our legislators grow a spine.”

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.