Bill would abolish ICE, reinvest in care

National Nurses United's statement on the Reimagining Safety Act:

"National Nurses United (NNU), the largest union of registered nurses in the United States with more than 225,000 members, is proud to endorse Representative Delia Ramirez's Reimagining Safety Act. This legislation would abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), dismantle the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), terminate immigration enforcement agreements between states and local law enforcement, close Guantanamo Bay, establish the Department of Community Safety, and commit major invest in social safety net programs that will actually keep us safe and healthy, including Medicare for All. These goals align with nurses' values and vision for a healthy society.

"By repealing the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to eliminate ICE, Customs and Border Patrol, and the Department of Homeland Security, Representative Ramirez is taking bold steps towards building a society that invests in people over profits, health care over warfare, and dismantles one of the most destructive agencies established in the 21st century.

"The Trump administration has used agencies within the Department of Homeland Security to enact his inhumane political agenda. He's used ICE as a paramilitary force and held funding hostage for other agencies within DHS, like FEMA, that aid our communities. From Minnesota to New York, ICE agents have been terrorizing our communities with impunity. We continue to mourn the lives of registered nurse Alex Pretti, Renée Nicole Good, Joan Sebastian Guerrero, and dozens of other innocent victims who have been killed by ICE.

"The acts of violence and terror committed by a federal agency against our communities were exacerbated by Trump and his billionaire cronies by ballooning ICE's budget by tens of billions of dollars and stripping working class people of our health care in the 'big ugly bill.'

"It's immoral and does not have to be this way. ICE has only existed for a few decades and, even prior to this administration, has been used to terrorize our immigrant neighbors. It is long overdue for Congress to get rid of this harmful agency and reimagine what a healthier society should look like."

A July 2026 NNU report found that over 600 safety net hospitals are at risk of closure entirely or cuts to essential health services due to the enactment of President Trump and Congressional Republicans' cruel H.R. 1, which will exacerbate rural and community hospitals' financial crises. Patients will lose access to care in their communities and be forced to drive hours to receive care while nurses will lose their jobs.

The Reimagining Safety Act would redirect funding away from the public health threat of ICE - which has killed, caused bodily injury, and imprisoned our neighbors - and invest in public health through guaranteed health care through Medicare for All, universal childcare, free public education, climate justice, and more.

National Nurses United is proud to endorse this legislation and reiterate our demands to permanently abolish ICE.

NNU has consistently called for ICE's abolition. Nurses have held multiple actions to protect nurses from detention and demand an end to this campaign of community harassment and endangerment.

National Nurses United is the largest and fastest-growing union and professional association of registered nurses in the United States with more than 225,000 members nationwide. NNU affiliates include California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, DC Nurses Association, Michigan Nurses Association, Minnesota Nurses Association, and New York State Nurses Association.