Residents shared thoughts about killing of Alex Pretti, called for abolishing ICE

By Meg Wade for Ashland.news

Dozens of Rogue Valley residents came together Saturday evening outdoors in downtown Talent to hold a vigil for Alex Pretti, the Minnesota man and intensive care unit nurse shot and killed by federal immigration agents Saturday morning in Minneapolis.

Another vigil, this one organized by Oregon District 2 Indivisible, is planned for 5:30 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 25, on Ashland Plaza.

What began Saturday, Jan. 24, in the late afternoon with a dozen individuals gathering around an altar and holding a banner that read “ABOLISH ICE” grew to a circle of 80 by sunset. Many attendees stayed a full hour, even as the temperature dropped. Some visibly shivered despite their stocking caps and extra jackets.

The vigil was a spontaneous response to the news out of Minneapolis Saturday morning, said Allie Rosenbluth, a Talent community member who was part of one group of friends that helped spread the word for others to assemble.

Lu Aya, a Talent resident affiliated with a collective known as The Peace Poets, stepped up to speak, pulling the crowd into a large circle and asking attendees to welcome one another.

“I’ll tell you right now,” Aya said, “it meant a lot to me, to come around the corner and see this big group of people who said, ‘no, I got to leave my house today, I need to go see people who know that life is sacred and life is precious, and who are actually willing to come to the streets to fight for life and to protect life,’ and so thank you again for making that decision. If you want to just acknowledge the people next to you and say, ‘thank you for coming.’”

After welcoming each other, the group held a moment of silence for several minutes, then shared words to represent what they hoped to send to Minneapolis, including support, healing, rage, connection, strength to continue, and many more.

The vigil lasted an hour, with Aya often leading the group in song, many taught through call-and-response, such as the simple:

“We will

Protect each other

And we will

Be everything we need”

“If empire taught you that you cannot help someone die in a good way, today is a good day to rebel against that,” Aya told the crowd.

Near the end of the vigil, Mel (who asked not to share their last name due to concern about potential repercussions), a resident of Medford, stepped up to read the names of individuals who have been killed by Immigration and Custom Enforcement agents or died while in ICE custody in 2025 and 2026. Mel read from a list posted to Instagram, which did not yet include Alex Pretti. Others at the vigil shouted his name into the circle after she finished.

Before the event closed, Rosenbluth stepped up to a megaphone to share a hotline number in Oregon run by PIRC (Portland Immigration Rights Coalition), and suggested that individuals save it to their phone to help share sightings of ICE agents (the number is 888-622-1510).

It is important to go through verification that a vehicle belongs to ICE before sharing the info publicly, stressed Rosenbluth, so as not to spread misinformation and cause unnecessary panic. Not all federal vehicles are ICE vehicles, she explained, even if they are near ICE facilities; some are Federal Protective Service (FPS) vehicles, which protect federal buildings, and may be marked Department of Homeland Security. “These are useful to track,” said Rosenbluth, “but they are not ICE.”

When asked to give comment on why they chose to attend the vigil, many attendees who spoke with Ashland.news said they felt too shaken to go on the record. Others who did share echoed these feelings of fear and distress.

“I am terrified for the country, and my family, and my friends, and my community, and this is out of control,” said Karen Carnival of Ashland.

Rebecca Shaw said she was there “for a lot of reasons, under the urgent banner of abolishing ICE. Just the horrific things that we’ve seen, and the people being so brave to stand up. This is the least that I can do, is to be here.” Shaw held her small dog, Kiwi, in her arms throughout the event.

Some attendees brought their children to come and bear witness. Nicole Greider of Talent said she thought it was important to do so. She held her son Kairo, 2½, who grasped an electric tea light in his hands.

Some valley residents felt pulled to participate but did not wish to share their names for fear of professional or social repercussions. That included a local social studies teacher, who was driving by, saw the crowd, and stopped to take part for several minutes.

“I know that not everyone holds the same viewpoints as me, and I think it can be a difficult time to be an educator right now. And I don’t really want to be targeted,” he said. “It’s really hard to teach about things like civics and being engaged with our government and our country right now, and it’s super important, but it’s a very difficult thing to teach in these times. Because kids see what’s going on around, you know?”

Still, he pulled over on his way home to make dinner for his family, to be present if even just for a few minutes.

“I think it’s extremely important for everyone to be very aware of what’s going on right now, and it really, it makes me want to cry, every day, seeing the state of our country right now. So I think being out here is super important,” he said.

Terrie Martin of Oregon District 2 Indivisible was also present. “I have to admit, we were hoping that Renee Good was a one-time event, being in a bad place at a bad time,” said Martin. “With today’s murder of Alex Pretti, it feels as if we’ve entered a whole new dimension, and it’s really important that everybody realize that.

A second vigil, this one organized by ORD2 Indivisible, is scheduled for 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 25, on Ashland Plaza.

Email Ashland resident and freelance journalist Meg Wade at [email protected].

Jan. 25: Quote from Allie Rosenbluth updated to say concern over confusing vehicles primarily applies to marked, not unmarked, federal vehicles.

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