Is New Orleans Really Safer With Union Nurses Calling Immigration Enforcement a “Threat”?

In cities like New Orleans and across the country, union politics are bleeding into every part of American life, even areas that should remain non-political, like patient care and public safety. One glaring example is the National Nurses United, the largest nurses’ union in the nation with over 225,000 members. This union has recently taken an astonishing turn by targeting law-abiding immigration enforcement agencies — agencies whose mission is to protect communities and defend the rule of law.

Instead of focusing strictly on healthcare issues, this union is leading protests that call Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) “public health threats” and demanding they be abolished. Its leadership even blames immigration enforcement for “terrorizing” patients and says hospitals should be protected from federal law enforcement.

For conservative Americans and many ordinary patients, especially in places like New Orleans, where public safety and service delivery already struggle, this rhetoric should raise alarm bells. The role of nurses is to heal, not to champion political causes that undermine law and order or dismiss threats at the border as harmful to public health.

New Orleans has seen its share of union tactics that interrupt patient care and strain hospital operations. Nurses at University Medical Center took multiple strike actions under this union’s banner to protest management and enforce their negotiating priorities.

Conservative patients are left asking a simple question: Are we safe getting care when unions turn health care workers into activists on issues like immigration? When unions make immigration enforcement about fear and trauma rather than serious policy debate, they drag healthcare into polarizing political battles, leaving everyday citizens to wonder if core duties are being compromised for slogans and protests.

America needs nurses committed to patient care and public safety. Unions should stop conflating healthcare with political activism and focus on what matters most: safe, reliable care for all Americans.