AFSCME’s Saunders: We will not be silent as this administration uses violence and intimidation to enact its extremist agenda.

WASHINGTON – AFSCME President Lee Saunders released the following statement on the killing of Alex Pretti, a Minnesota member of the American Federation of Government Employees:

“AFSCME members are heartbroken and outraged by the senseless killing of our fellow union member Alex Jeffrey Pretti. Alex was a true public servant who took care of our nation’s veterans in the VA intensive care unit. The thoughts and prayers of AFSCME members nationwide are with Alex’s family during this time.
 
“What is unfolding in Minnesota and across this nation is appalling and should shake every American to their core. ICE raids are terrorizing peaceful communities, separating families, detaining children and instilling fear. This is not American. 
 
“AFSCME represents 1.4 million public service workers who dedicate their lives to protecting and caring for their communities. We are the nurses, social workers, sanitation workers and first responders who show up every day to serve our neighbors. What we're witnessing is counter to everything we stand for: the right to protest, to use our voices to organize, to stand with our neighbors, to protect one another. These are bedrock American values. What we're witnessing is an assault on those values. When masked agents storm into our communities and harm and kill protesters, they're not making us safer. They're attacking the very idea of America.
 
“We will not be silent as this administration uses violence and intimidation to enact its extremist agenda. We will not let fear destroy the bonds that hold our communities together. Standing up for our neighbors isn't just an ideal; it's a responsibility. And we will fight to make sure these fundamental values don't die on our watch.”