Over the weekend, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a former Democratic vice presidential contender, caused a stir online by criticizing President Trump’s immigration policies using language reminiscent of the Nazi era.
During his commencement address at the University of Minnesota Law School on Saturday, Walz warned that the speech was becoming “way too political for a commencement address.” Others might have thought the same thing. “But I would argue, I wouldn’t be honoring my oath if I didn’t address this head on.”
First, the flashing red light: people are being rounded up off the streets by Donald Trump’s modern-day Gestapo. They’re being transported to foreign torture dungeons in unidentified trucks while wearing masks. Not a single opportunity to defend. There wasn’t even time to say farewell with a kiss. I was just snatched by masked men, thrown into those trucks, and then they vanished.
Students, according to Walz, “are graduating into a genuine emergency,” and Trump is a “tyrant.”
The analogy between the Nazi secret police force of the 1930s and 1940s and the deportations of criminal illegal immigrants was a point of contention for conservatives online, including members of the Trump administration, who fiercely reacted to Walz’s remarks.
According to White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller, “This vile anti-American language can only be construed as inciting insurrection and violence” (X).
“It is truly repugnant to liken ICE law enforcement officers to the Gestapo,” the official account for the Department of Homeland Security said on X. Criticizing and attacking ICE and our allies is just unacceptable. The number of assaults against ICE personnel has increased by 413%. Stay away from this nation if you are not a legal resident. Doing so will result in your arrest, deportation, and permanent exile from our country.
The White House fast reaction account commented on X, “Disgraced loser @GovTimWalz thinks ICE agents are the’modern day Gestapo,'” before citing many dangerous offenders who were detained in Minnesota in the past few weeks by ICE.
Republican communicator Matt Whitlock said on X, “The Department of Homeland Security has reported a more than 500% increase in attacks and assaults on ICE agents.” “Tim Walz knows exactly what he’s doing here.”
“Dude can never resist an opportunity to show off his TDS,” wrote Townhall contributor Dustin Grage on X.
Some, like Walz’s Republican opponent in the governor’s race, used the occasion to criticize Walz’s own record.
“Remember that it was Tim Walz who instituted a system where citizens could report suspicious activity, shut down schools, and face imprisonment for small business owners,” wrote gubernatorial candidate Kendall Qualls on X.
“Tim Walz is the real tyrant and modern-day Gestapo.”
Trump allegedly used the phrase “gestapo” at a closed-door meeting last year, according to FOX 59, and the Biden White House was outraged by the claim, calling it “despicable” and “insulting.”
Walz, who recently clarified that his capacity to “code talk to White guys watching football” was a deciding factor in his selection to run with Harris, faced comparable backlash last month when he compared Trump’s immigration policies to communist Russian “gulags.”