Overview
- The National Nurses United, representing more than 225,000 RNs, posted a graphic declaring it will “crush ICE for our patients” alongside an X message tagged #AbolishICE.
- Critics on social media condemned the imagery and messaging, with some demanding license revocations and self-identified nurses saying the union does not speak for them.
- In a follow-up video, the union urged Congress to cut funding to ICE and redirect the money to healthcare, reiterating its call to abolish the agency.
- Ohio state Rep. John Williams responded by touting HB281, a proposal he says would require hospitals in his state to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.
- The union links its campaign to the rollback of Obama-era “sensitive areas” guidance for hospitals, as debate intensifies with references to a VCU nurse’s firing over a TikTok and the Jan. 24 killing of Minneapolis ICU nurse Alex Pretti, and no formal sanctions against the union have been reported.