Democrats compare ICE with the Gestapo as they push to curb agency’s power

These statements come as tens of thousands of people protested against federal immigration policies over the weekend, with some holding signs that read, “Stop Trump’s Gestapo.”

By Shira Li Bartov, JTA

The Gestapo has become a cudgel in United States politics over recent days, as Democratic lawmakers compare ICE with Nazi Germany’s secret police and the White House calls them “unhinged” and “radical” for the parallel.

State lawmakers across the country are pushing legislation to curb the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign.

The proposals in New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Tennessee, California, and elsewhere include measures to restrict local police cooperation with federal immigration authorities, block the collection of immigration data and prevent ICE agents from entering schools and churches.

Some of these bills were already in motion before an ICE agent killed a woman in Minneapolis and Border Patrol agents shot and wounded two people in Portland last week.

But the mounting urgency expressed by lawmakers has been increasingly bolstered with comparisons to Nazi Germany.

“What the federal government is directing ICE to carry out is wrong,” New Jersey State Senator Britnee Timberlake said to reporters last week.

Timberlake sponsored a package of three bills aimed at limiting local resources from assisting federal immigration authorities.

“I do believe, and look for a day in the future where history will speak for itself, and that those who are carrying out these illegal acts will find themselves in the same position as those who carried out the illegal acts in Nazi Germany through the Nuremberg trials,” Timberlake added.

Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security, called Timberlake’s language “gross” in comments to Politico.

“From comparisons to the modern-day Nazi gestapo to glorifying rioters, the vilification of ICE must stop,” McLaughlin said.

Timberlake responded, “If they want to stop parallels to the Gestapo and Nazi Germany, then they should stop behaving that way.”

Congressional Democrats have also seized on Nazi Germany parallels amid ICE’s crackdown.

Massachusetts Rep. Jim McGovern said on X, “Trump is using ICE like a secret police force. They’ve used Gestapo-like tactics to terrorize communities for nearly a year, and now they’re literally killing people. This can’t be America.”

McGovern said he was “the first member of Congress to call for abolishing ICE.”

Demands to defund or abolish ICE have until recently been considered fringe to the Democratic Party’s mainstream, but now, some in Congress are considering a fight over ICE funding that could trigger a government shutdown.

Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley said on X, “Masked federal agents terrorizing our communities at the behest of an authoritarian strongman has a name: fascism.”

The senator has pushed for a bill to make federal law enforcement display clear identification.

These statements come as tens of thousands of people protested against federal immigration policies over the weekend, with some holding signs that read, “Stop Trump’s Gestapo.”

The word “Gestapo” was trending on X on Monday as a volley of posts referenced the “ICE Gestapo.”

Over the summer, after Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz called ICE “Donald Trump’s modern-day Gestapo,” Daniel H. Magilow, a professor of German at the University of Tennessee, noted that the Gestapo’s initial role was to investigate political crimes and opposition activity and “enforce racial laws in Germany and across occupied Europe.”

After analyzing the similarities and the differences between the two, Magilow suggested that the historical record may be beside the point.

“Since World War II and the fall of the Nazi regime, the term Gestapo has become shorthand in the United States to describe police repression,” he wrote.

“[C]omparing ICE to the Gestapo is less a historical judgment than a reflection of modern anxiety — a fear that the U.S. is veering toward authoritarianism reminiscent of 1930s Germany.”

The Trump administration has staunchly defended its immigration enforcement. On Friday, the White House marked National Law Enforcement Appreciation Day with a listicle of “57 times Democrats have recklessly, deliberately stoked hatred and division” against ICE and other law enforcement.

“Unhinged Radical Left Democrats have escalated their torrent of vicious, inflammatory attacks on these very heroes — branding them as Nazis, terrorists, and Gestapo thugs while inciting their delusional supporters to unleash violence,” said the White House press release.

Timberlake’s and Merkley’s statements were included in the list.