Nurses Launch Petition to Protect Public Health in Immigration Enforcement

Nurses across the United States are mobilizing to protect patients, families, and their profession through a new national petition urging federal action to safeguard public health and human rights amid changes to immigration enforcement practices. The call to action has been organized by Nurses SHIFT Change, a grassroots coalition of nurses and healthcare workers advocating for evidence-based policy and ethical leadership, following the fatal shooting of Minneapolis ICU nurse Alex Pretti during a federal operation on Saturday, January 24th.

As of Monday morning, the petition has collected over 2,300 signatures toward a goal of 1 million.

What the Petition Is Asking For

According to a LinkedIn announcement from Nurses SHIFT Change, the petition “calls for immediate safeguards to protect public health, human rights, and access to essential services.” The coalition says current immigration enforcement policies are harming patients, disrupting healthcare and educational settings, and causing moral distress among frontline clinicians.

The petition specifically calls for:

• Withholding further funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) until reforms are in place.
• Reforming immigration enforcement practices “through a public health and human rights lens,” with input from frontline clinicians, including ending mass enforcement actions like the Minneapolis operation and training agents to de‑escalate confrontations.
• Clear protections from immigration enforcement in healthcare and educational spaces.
• Transparent accountability mechanisms for enforcement actions that result in injury, death, or disruption of care.
• Concrete advocacy and guidance from nursing and healthcare organizations about nurses’ obligations during immigration enforcement activities.
• Formal recognition of moral distress as an occupational and ethical impact on nurses.

The letter grounds these demands in nursing ethics, stating that nurses are obligated to “preserve life, reduce harm, and protect human dignity” and that systemic safeguards are needed “to prevent foreseeable harm.”

A Public Health and Human Rights Issue

Nurse leaders and advocates have tied the petition to recent events and broader concerns about immigration policy’s impacts on health and safety. In a widely shared LinkedIn post, nurse leader Rebecca Love, RN, MSN, FIEL, wrote: “For the first time ever in my nursing career — we are seeing nursing associations align in solidarity over protecting our public health, Constitutional rights and Human Rights.”

Love specifically linked the movement to the tragic killing of ICU nurse Alex Pretti, emphasizing the profound stakes for the profession.

Similarly, Marion Leary, PhD, MPH, RN, posted that the coalition is: “Calling on nurses and leaders of all professional nursing organizations, nursing regulatory bodies, all local, state, and federal lawmakers … to protect the public from the harm to health, education, and social wellbeing caused by current federal immigration enforcement practices.”

Leary’s post reiterates the petition’s call for broad support: “We want nurses, nursing students, nursing leaders, healthcare workers, advocates, and allies from across the United States to sign,” she said.

 

Why This Matters to Nurse Practice

Although nurses often think first in clinical terms, the issues raised by the petition reflect real public health concerns now backed up by experts and policy analysts. Many organizations and legal experts are sounding the alarm about how changes in immigration enforcement are affecting access to care and patient trust.

For example, the Physicians for Human Rights and National Immigration Law Center guide explains that recent federal policy shifts have removed longstanding guidance that once discouraged immigration enforcement actions in sensitive locations like healthcare facilities — and that this could create fear and avoidance of needed care among patients.

The guide also notes that health care workers “have both legal rights and ethical responsibilities to maintain spaces for your patients that are free from immigration enforcement within medical settings.”

Similarly, public health resources emphasize that uncertainty around enforcement in clinical settings can erode trust and deter immigrants — and even U.S. citizens — from pursuing care they need.

What Nurses Can Do Now

Nurses who care about this issue can take several concrete steps:

• Sign and share the petition to add professional voices to the call for policy safeguards.
• Contact federal lawmakers, especially members of the Senate, to express concern about how immigration enforcement practices can intersect with public health. The ANA has a form to help reach your Representative & Senators as well.
• Educate colleagues and patients about patient rights and institutional policies, drawing from existing legal guides and advocacy toolkits that explain protections under HIPAA, EMTALA, and constitutional safeguards.
• Engage in self-care and community support, recognizing that sustained advocacy work goes hand-in-hand with professional wellbeing.

This movement reflects a broader trend in nursing: care that extends beyond the bedside into civic engagement, human rights, and health equity. As Love put it, nurses are no longer staying silent about threats they see to patient welfare and public health.

By raising their voices — both individually and collectively — nurses are redefining what it means to advocate for health in an era where public policy and clinical practice are increasingly intertwined.

 

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