When Alex Pretti was killed by U.S. Border Patrol agents last week, the shock rippled far beyond Minneapolis, where the Veterans Affairs nurse worked.
Black veterans and nurses in Atlanta say his death has forced a reckoning, not only with the federal government’s expanding use of force, but with what it means to serve a country that they say is increasingly turning on its own people.
“I’m proud to stand with people like Alex Pretti, who in this case gave his life protecting those who needed protection, and that’s what nursing is. That’s what we stand for,” said Teshara Felder, who is a Navy veteran, a nurse in Atlanta, and a member of National Nurses United.
For Ed Anderson, a 71-year-old Air Force veteran and Georgia organizer for the progressive veterans group Common Defense, Pretti’s death underscored why veterans such as Ronn Easton, who has gone viral for confronting federal agents in Minnesota in a fur coat, have increasingly stepped into social justice roles.
“His murder amplifies the reason why we do what we do — to defend democracy,” Anderson told Capital B Atlanta. “The quick rushes to judgment … that Pretti was wielding and brandishing a gun and all these other things have since been disproven, they validate our concern about what’s happening to our First Amendment rights, and consequently the Second Amendment rights.”
Antoine Artis, a 45-year-old Navy veteran who lives in Atlanta, said learning that Pretti was a VA nurse made the killing even harder to process.
“It’s a slap in the face,” Artis told Capital B Atlanta. “Knowing that he was helping veterans out, helping people like me out or any other veterans, adds to it. And he died at the hands of a federal agency — it’s not something that I would expect to happen at home base, and it’s not right.”
Artis served 13 years in the Navy. Like Felder, he said Pretti’s death underscores a growing disconnect between the values service members are taught and the actions now taken by the government.
“I joined the military to fight for our country and I don’t feel that citizens here in the U.S. should have to fight, that’s what the military’s for. We do that so they don’t have to, so it’s sad,” Artis said.
Anderson echoed that concern, pointing to the way ICE officers have increasingly operated in public.
“It makes me wonder why [the] Border Patrol has to go around with their faces covered,” Anderson said. “Our local police don’t cover their faces. Our state police don’t cover their faces. I never wore a mask other than a gas mask in my 10 years in the Air Force, and we fight for freedom every day.”
“I agree, like many have drawn the parallel, their Gestapo like tactics, their ability to enter someone’s home without a warrant, that’s unconstitutional, and I am afraid of the danger to our republic that [President Donald] Trump and his administration are projecting on our nation.”
After Pretti’s death, VA Secretary Doug Collins released a statement on social media confirming Pretti’s employment and offering condolences to the family. But Collins also blamed state and local officials in Minnesota, saying such tragedies occur because they refuse to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.
That framing angered many veterans and VA employees nationwide.
“He’s using a human life to politic, and that’s unfortunate,” Felder said.
Anderson was more blunt.
“There is no leadership at the VA right now,” he said. “Doug Collins is echoing the nonsense, the nonsensical opinion of Kristi Noem and Stephen Miller and all the others who want to assign blame to the victim instead of looking at responsibility for the perpetrator.”
Anderson said cuts to VA staffing and services, particularly in mental health, have already had devastating effects on veterans nationwide.
“I owe my life to VA mental health care,” he said. “I was at a low point in my life, and VA mental health care helped me deal with the issues that I had. So I reflect back on nurses like Pretti often when I think about how the VA helped me and continues to help me and other veterans.”
Despite their anger and grief, the veterans interviewed rejected the idea that resistance is futile.
“Hope is never lost … this will not win,” Felder said. “People need to not feel afraid to say, ‘I don’t stand with this. I will not stand with this.’ And that alone, I think will help us start making the changes we need.”
Artis agreed, urging residents to stand up against injustice.
“I feel like with more people, more manpower, things can change, but it won’t help to just stand idle and let it happen to us,” he said.
Anderson emphasized that Black participation is critical.
“It was a biracial coalition that brought about the Civil Rights Movement. It’s a biracial coalition that brought about the anti-Vietnam movement, and it’s going to take a biracial coalition to help squelch the efforts of the Trump administration,” Anderson said.
In Atlanta, VA nurses and federal workers are planning a vigil to remember Alex Pretti and call for justice for all victims of ICE and Border Patrol. The event will be held Feb. 5 from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. outside the Atlanta VA at 1670 Clairmont Road.
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