Jewish community leaders in Minnesota are calling on Gov. Tim Walz to “walk back” comments he made during a law school graduation speech this weekend where he compared federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to secret police in Nazi Germany.
Walz made the controversial comments during a Saturday morning commencement address he delivered to students at the University of Minnesota Law School in Minneapolis.
“I’m gonna start with the flashing red light—Donald Trump’s modern-day Gestapo is scooping folks up off the streets,” Walz said to a hall of about 230 law school graduates as they were awaiting their diplomas. “They’re in unmarked vans, wearing masks, being shipped off to foreign torture dungeons. 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.”
Alpha News was the first media outlet to report those comments on Saturday.
By Sunday afternoon the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas issued a statement criticizing Walz for making an analogy between the actions of federal ICE agents in America and Hitler’s Gestapo during the Holocaust.
“The governor, among Minnesota elected officials, is singularly knowledgeable about the Holocaust,” Steve Hunegs, the executive director of the regional chapter of the JCRC, told TC Jewfolk. “He knows the importance of careful language when referring to the Holocaust and the perpetrators of the Holocaust.
“We share the governor’s concern about due process for all. But loose language undermines what we’re trying to accomplish with Holocaust education. The governor should walk back ‘Gestapo’ language from his commencement address.”
Also on Sunday afternoon the federal Department of Homeland Security issued a statement criticizing Walz’s comments. ICE operates under the umbrella of the DHS.
It is absolutely sickening to compare ICE law enforcement agents to the Gestapo.
Attacks and demonization of ICE and our partners is wrong. ICE officers are now facing a 413% increase in assaults.
Our message is clear: DO NOT come to this country illegally. If you do, we will… https://t.co/6jcGRVPuyC
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) May 18, 2025
“It is absolutely sickening to compare ICE law enforcement agents to the Gestapo,” DHS posted on social media. “Attacks and demonization of ICE and our partners is wrong. ICE officers are now facing a 413% increase in assaults.”
Hank Long
Hank Long is a journalism and communications professional whose writing career includes coverage of the Minnesota legislature, city and county governments and the commercial real estate industry. Hank received his undergraduate degree at the University of Minnesota, where he studied journalism, and his law degree at the University of St. Thomas. The Minnesota native lives in the Twin Cities with his wife and four children. His dream is to be around when the Vikings win the Super Bowl.
