Largest Federal Workers Union Demands Noem And Miller Resign, Members Demand They Stop Representing Border Patrol
An injury to one is an injury to all.
In the wake of the murder of Alex Pretti, there have been more than a few surprising denouncements and criticisms of ICE, Border Patrol, Kristi Noem, Stephen Miller, Greg Bovino, and practically everyone associated with the tragedy — along with the whole operation in general. Or at least admitting that the “optics” are bad. The editorial boards of The Wall Street Journal and The New York Post have both called for Trump to “de-escalate” and for administration officials to stop blatantly lying about things caught on camera, for fear it might be a bad look. The editorial board at The Washington Post — which is now so far right that they were out here last week praising Javier Milei and criticizing the United Nations for “alienating” half of America by caring too much about the environment — suggested that there may be a little bit of overreach happening here. Sean Hannity, of all people, posited that they maybe stop doing things like raiding Home Depots, also on the grounds that it makes them look bad.
There has also, obviously, been a whole lot of more serious criticism from the more expected corners. Given that Pretti, as a VA nurse, was a union member, labor unions have been especially vocal. The AFL-CIO has called for ICE and Border Patrol to get the hell out of Minneapolis. National Nurses United (NNU), the largest nurse’s union in the United States, has called for the abolition of ICE altogether.
And, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) — the largest union representing federal workers and the one that happened to represent Alex Pretti — has also issued one statement blaming the Trump administration for the escalation that led to his death this weekend and another on Monday, calling for the resignation of both Kristi Noem and Stephen Miller.
“In the immediate aftermath of Alex’s killing, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem betrayed the public trust by slandering the good name of our union brother and calling him a ‘domestic terrorist,’” the statement reads. “Alex Pretti was a patriotic ICU nurse at a VA hospital who devoted his life to serving America’s veterans. That claim was reckless, defamatory, and unsupported by the facts. Noem was preceded in this false statement by Stephen Miller, Deputy White House Chief of Staff, who is also the architect of the chaotic and failed immigration policy in Minnesota.
“Our demand is clear: Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who was responsible for carrying out the policy that led to Alex’s needless killing, and Deputy White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, the architect of that policy, must resign immediately. If they refuse, President Trump must dismiss them.”
That’s probably not going to happen, unfortunately. Though Greg Bovino is reportedly being pulled from Minneapolis and sent back to El Centro to rot, so I guess never say never.
However, as Sarah Lazare at Jewish Currents points out, the union did not specifically criticize the immigration officials who were directly involved in Pretti’s killing — and there may be a reason for that. Border Patrol agents are also represented by the AFGE, and while the identity of the agent who killed Pretti has yet to be released, it’s entirely likely that both he and his victim belonged to the same union. The AFGE acknowledged this in its initial statement about the killing, writing that “We just recently discovered that the officer involved was a Border Patrol officer and we are still not certain if he is a member of AFGE.”
Members of the union who have been protesting ICE across the country are understandably not exactly pleased to be in the same organization as a group that has been terrorizing their communities.
Via Jewish Currents:
Workers say it’s a fundamental contradiction to be in a union with the very federal agents their movement is opposing. “We can’t have it both ways,” says Aimee Potter, a Chicago-based VA social worker who works in addiction treatment and is an AFGE steward in her shop. “We can’t advocate for our communities and for ‘ICE Out’ and at the same time be connected to an organization that is terrorizing our members and our communities.” [Lisa Dadabo, another AFGE member and VA social worker from Chicago] agreed, noting that this discrepancy was clearer than ever after Border Patrol’s killing of Pretti. “When I found out [the person they killed] was a VA nurse who had been trying to help people, I can’t even really describe it. It was just seething rage,” she says.
On Monday, members of the AFGE and the AFL-CIO put out a public letter asking the unions to “move to stop representing Customs and Border Patrol, and support a DOJ investigation of the officers involved.”
Via MoveOn.org:
DHS Leadership and Customs and Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have persistently violated the 1st, 2nd, and 4th Amendment rights of our neighbors, whether immigrant, refugee, or citizen - and this morning, they killed one of our members in the street and immediately blamed him for his own death. […]
We ask you to show some courage. We ask you to uphold the most fundamental principle of unionism - that an injury to one is an injury to all. We ask you to stand by your members who provide critical care to our nations Veterans. We ask you to abide by the responsibility you have to protect your members and ensure that government does not do harm to union members, its citizens and its residents.
In the section reading “Why is this important,” the workers wrote, “We are no longer willing to sit by, complacent, paying dues to a union that allows our members to be murdered and abused. We want CBP out now.” Seems fair! As of this writing, there are only 84 signatures, but we can assume that there will be a lot more as the effort gets more attention throughout the week.
It’s worth noting that the AFGE and the AFL-CIO previously represented ICE as well, but they began the process of separating from them last year, at the request of the National ICE Officers Association. At the time, the AFGE explained in their statement that “[u]nder the Federal Labor Relations Act, unions can volunteer to give up a unit of workers they previously represented by filing a disclaimer of interest in the bargaining unit,” which is probably what they should be doing with the CBP right about now.
PREVIOUSLY ON WONKETTE!
Not to be disrespectful towards Pretti and his loved ones, but it took the murder of a white guy legally carrying a weapon for these organizations to speak up.
If America is a police state, that makes police part of management, not labor. Unions should not represent them.