Nurses March on Susan Collins Office, Demand Vote Against ICE Funding

On Monday, MSNA nurses marched on Senator Susan Collins’ office in Portland to demand that she vote no on more funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Collins has said she is “exploring all options” on pending legislation that would provide $64.4 billion for the Department of Homeland Security, including $10 billion for ICE.

“We are caregivers. We don’t care how you got here, we just care that you heal and get home to your family, your job, and your community,” said Emily Wilder, RN in MaineMedical Center’s cardiac intensive care unit, in a statement last week. “To see armed thugs roaming our streets and randomly picking people up because of the color of their skin is the most heinous reality I can imagine. We know that those who survive these encounters with ICE are often shipped off to concentration camps, where some are dying due to the lack of adequate food and medical care. This is not ‘Making America Great,’ it is making America deadly to our most vulnerable neighbors.”

Kirsten, a nurse at MMC added "We want them to stop terrorizing the streets of our communities. They have made an enormous impact in the hospitals. People aren’t showing up for work. They’re not showing up when they’re sick and we need this terrorism to stop now."