Democrats renew Trump-Hitler comparisons, call ICE ‘Gestapo’
Democrats are once again comparing the Trump administration to Hitler and Nazi Germany. The renewed rhetoric was the subject of debate at a Congressional hearing that included the Democratic governors of three sanctuary states.
Democrats have either called or compared President Donald Trump and his supporters to Nazis for years, going back to his first administration.
That trend began again in May when Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, compared the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to the Gestapo.
“Donald Trump’s modern-day Gestapo is scooping folks up off the streets. They’re in unmarked vans wearing masks. Being shipped off to foreign torture dungeons,” Walz said during a commencement address. “No chance to mount a defense. Not even a chance to kiss a loved one goodbye. Just grabbed up by masked agents, shoved into those vans, and disappeared.”
What exactly is the Gestapo?
The Gestapo, whose official German name translates to “Secret State Police,” had the power to be the judge, jury and executioner. It helped track, find and kill Jews during the Holocaust. Gestapo agents went after all perceived enemies of the state and were the political police force for the Nazis.
Democrats compare Trump administration to Nazis and Gestapo
Democrats on the Oversight Committee continued the Nazi comparisons during Thursday’s hearing.
“When you compare the old films of the Gestapo grabbing people off the streets of Poland and you compare them to those nondescript thugs who grabbed that graduate student does look like a gestapo operation,” Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., said.
“You know my dad served in the Second World War. He fought the Nazis in northern Africa, he fought the Nazis on the Italian peninsula. And I think he’s looking down right now and he’s happy that I’m fighting today’s Nazis,” Lynch continued.
“If we just roll this clock on the wall back 75 years, we’d be looking at a time in Nazi Germany where people ran around with signs, like this new ICE sign that says ‘report all foreign invaders to ICE’ with Uncle Sam there holding up the sign. This could have been a Gestapo member 75 years ago,” Rep. Kweisi Mfume, D-Md., said.
Mfume held up this sign posted on social media by the Department of Homeland Security on June 11.
What is the Republican response?
Republicans took serious issue with the Nazi comparisons.
“You’re calling ICE agents modern day Nazis. Don’t you regard your inflammatory rhetoric as a problem?” Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., asked Walz during Thursday’s House Oversight hearing.
“Governor, do you and other Democrat politicians understand why referencing ICE as Gestapo is offensive? I’m going to explain. The Department of Homeland Security is now reporting that ICE officers are experiencing a 413% rise in assaults,” Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., said, referencing data released by DHS.
The Department of Homeland Security and FBI are in the process of investigating and arresting individuals who are accused of assaulting federal officers during the ongoing protests in Los Angeles.
What’s a sanctuary city?
There was so much talk about Nazis and the Gestapo, it was easy to forget why they were all gathered in the first place: to discuss sanctuary state policies.
It’s the federal government’s job to enforce immigration law. States, counties and cities choose whether they want to cooperate with federal officials. That cooperation can include allowing federal officers to conduct investigations of inmates in their jails and prisons, or holding an inmate set to be released in detention so the federal government can take them into custody for a separate immigration offense.
Jurisdictions that do not cooperate with the federal government are considered sanctuaries.
During the hearing, members shared the most polarizing and extreme cases to back up their party’s immigration platform.
Republicans gave examples of immigrants in the country illegally committing egregious crimes like murder and rape. They shared 20-year-old Katie Abraham’s story. A previously deported migrant who was driving drunk and fled the scene killed her.
Democrats shared stories of the Trump administration deporting U.S.-citizen children with their undocumented parents. Those children include an 11-year-old receiving treatment for a brain tumor.
Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
