"It is absolutely sickening to compare ICE law enforcement agents to the Gestapo." That was the Department of Homeland Security’s response after Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz likened federal immigration enforcement to Nazi Germany’s notorious secret police.

"Trump's modern-day Gestapo is scooping folks up off the streets," Walz, the former Democratic vice presidential nominee, said during his commencement address at the University of Minnesota Law School. "They're in unmarked vans, wearing masks, being shipped off to foreign torture dungeons."

Since President Trump took office, immigration enforcement has turned more aggressive — even targeting people during church services.

The federal crackdown has seen green cards revoked, international students detained for joining Gaza-related protests, and immigrants deported to a high-security prison in El Salvador — despite some transfers being blocked by court orders.

ICE claims it’s focused on undocumented individuals with criminal histories. But experts warn the term "criminal" is being used loosely — in some cases, referring only to immigration-related infractions, according to CNN.

DHS condemned Walz, noting that ICE agents have faced a 413% surge in assaults. 

“Attacks and demonization of ICE and our partners is wrong,” the department tweeted.

Stephen Miller, former Trump policy adviser, called Walz’s comments "vile anti-American language" meant to incite violence. But rather than silencing critics, the administration’s indignation spurred a louder reckoning.

"They’re just following orders, right? Where have we heard that before?" one X user posted, drawing a parallel to Nuremberg.

Others resurfaced long-standing critiques: ICE courthouse arrests, detentions without due process, and resistance to Supreme Court rulings.

"If you don’t want to be compared to the Gestapo, stop: arresting people without warrants... refusing to follow court orders," another user wrote. 

One added, “Next thing you know, saying ‘Gestapo’ is illegal, and you can go to jail for comparing ICE to Gestapo.”

Gestapo comparisons are nothing new—but they’re getting louder as fears of democratic backsliding surge. 

At a recent Sacramento forum, 87-year-old Bernard Marks stood face to face with ICE Acting Director Thomas Homan —and spoke memories that refuse to fade.

"When I was a little boy in Poland, for no other reason but for being Jewish, I was hauled off by the Nazis," he said. "I was picked up and separated from my family, who was exterminated in Auschwitz."

Marks accused Homan of lying about his denial of courthouse arrests and warned Sacramento’s sheriff: "History is not on your side."

"The Gestapo… did not begin as an omnipotent terror machine. It evolved into one," warned an editorial in the Milwaukee Independent, which likened ICE’s expansion of surveillance and fear tactics to early Nazi policing mechanisms.