WATCH: Day of remembrance, action hosted at state Capitol, showing Aloha to Alex

More than 300 people gathered Tuesday (Jan. 27) at the Hawai‘i state Capitol in Honolulu to show Aloha for Alex.

The community vigil and day of action and remembrance honored the life of 37-year-old Alex Pretti of Minneapolis, an intensive care unit nurse at a Veterans Affairs facility, who was shot and killed last week by federal agents.

It was organized by American Civil Liberties Union of Hawai‘i, Hawai‘i Coalition for Immigrant Rights and The Legal Clinic Hawai‘i.

The three organizations partnered together to lead statewide efforts for the advancement of policies that protect and defend due process for all through the Campaign for Immigrant Justice.

Video Courtesy: American Civil Liberties Union of Hawai‘i

Among those attending Tuesday’s vigil were Hawai‘i Gov. Josh Green and state House Speaker Nadine Nakamura, who offered remarks in support of increased protections for immigrant communities in Hawai‘i.

They also honored the life of Renee Nicole Good of Minneapolis, who was shot and killed Jan. 7 — about 2 weeks before Pretti — by an agent with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.

“It is unacceptable to take another person’s life under any circumstance,” said Green, according to a release following the event. “Alex was a healer. He cared for veterans … . He showed up for others. By all accounts, even in his final moments, he was trying to help someone else from harm.”

He said as governor, it’s his and Hawai‘i Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke’s responsibility to stand up for what’s right.

“I will use every tool that is given to me by the [Hawai‘i] Legislature and that we have to make sure that people are treated with dignity and respect in this state,” Green said. “This is not a place of confrontation, but we will stand up.”

Nakamura said state legislators have a responsibility to look at legislation before them during the 2026 state legislative session and make sure they build in protections, accountability and penalties that make sure Hawai‘i residents are protected.

“And that those who are helping our immigrants have the resources they need to protect our people who have been detained and make sure they have due process,” said Nakamura, according to the release.

Members of the Campaign for Immigrant Justice Steering Committee closed out the vigil with a call to action for why Hawaiʻi must move anti-collaboration and due process bills quickly this legislative session.

“No family — no community — should ever consider whether or not they are going to lose their life to protest and protect their neighbors,” said Hawai‘i Coalition for Immigrant Rights Executive Director Liza Ryan-Gill, according to the release. “We also gather to tell the truth: the Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Department of Homeland Security have been escalating enforcement, hiding in secrecy and dodging accountability while our neighbors live with fear.”

American Civil Liberties Union of Hawai‘i Policy Director Mandy Fernandez said Hawai‘i must protect the rule of law at home.

“We’ve already seen a major escalation of force in the state, and raids are happening across the islands, even before [Immigration and Customs Enforcement]’s budget gets supercharged,” said Fernandez, according to the release.

She added that the federal government has attacked red and blue states.

“The only thing that seems to deter them is when neighbors stand up for each other — like we’ve seen in Minnesota — and cling tight to their values,” Fernandez said.

Green in a Facebook post about Tuesday’s vigil called Pretti a healer and protector — someone who showed up for others until his final moments.

He reiterated that he remains committed to keeping Hawaiʻi a place where every family feels safe, where civil rights are protected and where compassion guides actions — always and without exception.

“This is a moment that calls for reflection, accountability and humanity,” the governor said in his post. “No one should feel hunted, intimidated or unsafe simply living their lives in Hawaiʻi. Our islands are built on aloha — not fear. And aloha means dignity, restraint and respect for life, especially by those entrusted with power and authority.”

Visit the Hawai‘i Coalition for Immigrant Rights website for additional information about the Campaign for Immigrant Justice.

American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaiʻi said Sunday that it stands with its American Civil Liberties Union family of Minnesota and throughout the nation in strongly condemning Pretti’s killing and demanding these violent and dangerous federal agents immediately and unconditionally withdraw from Minnesota.

“Alex Pretti was an ICU nurse for the Department of Veterans Affairs — a caregiver and a witness — whose life should not have ended at the hands of the state. May he rest in peace, may his witness be elevated and may his loved ones be strengthened with steadfast perseverance,” said American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaiʻi Executive Director Salmah Rizvi in a statement Sunday (Jan. 25). “His death demands accountability and a reckoning with federal enforcement practices. Systems built on fear and impunity endanger us all. The authoritarian’s paramilitary, ICE, must be abolished.”

American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota Executive Director Deepinder Mayell said Sunday in a statement that ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection must end their operations in Minneapolis before anyone else is harmed, and an independent investigation must be conducted.

“This tragedy is further proof that these federal agents are out of control and critically endangering our communities,” Mayell said.

U.S. Congress voted in July 2025 to add an unprecedented $170 billion to the already massive budget for immigration enforcement, which has funded the indiscriminate raids in Minneapolis.

Lawmakers in Washington now are negotiating the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s budget for the coming year, which would fund ICE and Border Patrol, enabling them to continue what American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaiʻi called “their lawless operations across the country” without adding any serious limits on their “abusive and violent tactics.”

“Congress must rein ICE in before what happened in Minneapolis happens yet again,” said national American Civil Liberties Union Director of Immigration Policy and Government Affairs Naureen Shah in a statement Sunday. “Senators must reject a [Department of Homeland Security] budget that allows these lawless agencies to continue putting our communities in danger.”

American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaiʻi calls on Hawaii’s congressional delegation to demand an immediate and independent investigation and reject the increase in funding for the Department of Homeland Security budget.

“I am voting against any funding for [Department of Homeland Security] until and unless more controls are put in place to hold ICE accountable,” said U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, a Hawai’i Democrat, in a statement Jan. 24. “These repeated incidents of violence across the country are unlawful, needlessly escalatory and making all of us less safe.”

American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaiʻi also called on Green, state legislators and county mayors — along with other elected officials — to support the Campaign for Immigrant Justice.

Democratic Lieutenant Governors Association Chairperson Lt. Gov. Kyle Evans Gay of Delaware and Vice Chairperson Lt. Gov. Tobias Read of Oregon said in a statement Jan. 24 that they and the association stand with Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, calling for ICE to immediately cease operations in Minnesota.

They also are outraged by the fatal shooting of Pretti.

“This latest tragedy is part of an awful pattern of violence,” said the statement. “It has left one dead, eroded public safety and traumatized a city already reeling from tragedy.”

The association leadership said “this disturbing trend” is not isolated to Minnesota: lieutenant governors and elected officials in other states raised serious concerns about similar federal escalations that jeopardize community safety and strain state-federal relations.

The deployment of armed ICE agents into American neighborhoods — without the request or consent of a state’s governor — is irresponsible and a reckless abuse of power. It jeopardizes lives, shreds public trust and, as seen in Minnesota, directly undermines the ability of local law enforcement to serve and protect.

“ICE agents are not making communities safer,” Evans Gay and Read said in their statement. “They are stoking fear, deepening divisions and perpetuating cycles of violence. These occupations must end.”