Democratic Lawmaker Declares ICE Arrests Being Compared to the Gestapo Is 'Appropriate': 'That's Exactly What It Was Like'

A Democratic legislator has claimed that the comparisons between the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) and the Gestapo, the secret police body of Nazi Germany, are accurate.

Massachusetts Rep. Stephen Lynch got heated at a congressional hearing with elected representatives of sanctuary states and cities on Thursday.

"The Trump administration has tried to sweep aside the fact that this pattern of mass deportation operations is letting dangerous criminals roam free while it picks off peaceful, contributing members of our communities," he began.

"Bus boys at restaurants, day laborers at Home Depot, parents who are taking their kids to school. In late March, ICE agents wearing masks and hoodies detained Rümeysa Öztürk. And those of you who watched that abduction, when you compare the old films of the Gestapo grabbing people off the streets of Poland, and you compare them to those non-descript thugs who grabbed that graduate student, it does look like a Gestapo operation," he continued.

"It does look like the Gestapo. She was snatched away and detained 1,700 miles away. Her Congresswoman couldn't reach her, her family couldn't reach her, she was held in communicado. 1,700 miles away, her attorney could not reach her. Yeah, that was Gestapo-like. That's an appropriate comparison," Lynch said.

Social media users quickly sounded off in response to the clip of Lynch's impassioned speech, criticizing the Trump administration's immigration policies.

"ICE agents wearing masks and kidnapping people from their families are all former PROUD BOYS AND JANUARY 6th terrorist, these ice agents were hired by the trump dictatorship to bring fear and chaos to the streets," said one user.

"What's the difference between Gestapo and ICE agents? - Gestapo officers didn't wear masks and didn't need protection of Marines to do what they do," said another.

"Face it: the USA has a secret police now. The gestapo who can abduct you, masked and hidden, into unmarked vehicles," said a third.

"Or even compared to how turkish police grab Kurds off the streets," added a fourth.

Another Democratic legislator from Massachusetts also compared ICE to a Nazi group. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu compared ICE agents to members of New England based neo-Nazi group Nationalist Social Club-131 earlier this month.

"I don't know of any police department that routinely wears masks," Wu said. "We know that there are other groups that routinely wear masks, NSC 131 routinely wears masks," she added.

Originally published on Latin Times

Tags

ICE, Immigration