Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is facing backlash for likening immigrant children’s fears amid the federal crackdown in his state to those of Jewish children during the Holocaust.
Mr. Walz, a Democrat, made the analogy during a press briefing on Saturday’s fatal shooting of a Minneapolis nurse by immigration agents.
“We have got children in Minnesota hiding in their houses, afraid to go outside. Many of us grew up reading that story of Anne Frank,” he said.
“Somebody is going to write that children’s story about Minnesota, and there’s one person who can end this now,” he added, referring to President Trump.
The governor’s comments prompted sharp rebuke.
The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum condemned the comparison, hours before Tuesday’s International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
“Anne Frank was targeted and murdered solely because she was Jewish. Leaders making false equivalencies to her experience for political purposes is never acceptable,” the museum said. “Despite tensions in Minneapolis, exploiting the Holocaust is deeply offensive, especially as antisemitism surges.”
As antisemitism has risen across the country, the Trump administration has ramped up efforts to curb it. The White House rapid response social media account described Mr. Walz as a “truly disturbed, unstable individual.”
The Trump administration’s special envoy to combat antisemitism joined in on the criticism of the Minnesota governor, saying that immigration officers should not be “tarred with this historically illiterate and antisemitic comparison.”
“Ignorance like this cheapens the horror of the Holocaust. Anne Frank was in Amsterdam legally and abided by Dutch law,” said Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun, the special envoy. “She was hauled off to a death camp because of her race and religion. Her story has nothing to do with the illegal immigration, fraud, and lawlessness plaguing Minnesota today.”
StopAntisemitism, a nonprofit that tracks antisemitic incidents, said Mr. Walz “exploiting the murder of 6 million Jews while refusing to confront today’s violent antisemitism” is not remembrance but an abuse of history.
“For those who invoke the Holocaust or Anne Frank to score political points while staying silent as Jew-hatred explodes worldwide: shame on you,” it said.
Rep. Randy Fine, Florida Republican, said that “comparing the removal of illegal immigrants to the Holocaust is antisemitic and repulsive. Will Jewish Democrats call him out? I won’t hold my breath.”
The president’s anti-illegal immigration surge in Minnesota has spurred criticism of federal use of force over U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents’ fatal shootings of two protesters.
