Politicians calling ICE/CBP/National Guard “Nazis,” “Gestapo,” “terrorists,” “illegitimate forces” is NOT protected speech when…
The moment that rhetoric:
- creates hostility toward servicemembers doing their jobs,
- erodes loyalty, morale, or discipline,
- paints federal officers as immoral targets,
- helps radicalise unstable individuals,
- foreseeably contributes to violent attacks,
it loses all constitutional protection and becomes a criminal act under:
- 18 U.S.C. § 2387 (undermining Armed Forces)
- 18 U.S.C. § 373 (solicitation of violence)
- 18 U.S.C. § 2339A (material support)
- 18 U.S.C. § 371 (conspiracy)
- 18 U.S.C. § 111, 1114 (interference with federal officers)
- 18 U.S.C. § 1111 (felony murder)
Names, offices, and direct or paraphrased statements tying them to Nazi / Gestapo / fascist / “terror force” analogies.
| # | Politician & Office | Targeted Agency | Example of Rhetoric (short) | Rhetoric Type | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gov. Tim Walz (MN) | ICE | Called ICE “Trump’s modern-day Gestapo” in public remarks, then doubled down when challenged. | Gestapo / Nazi secret-police analogy | (DHS / GOP oversight coverage) |
| 2 | Gov. JB Pritzker (IL) | ICE | Claimed the U.S. is becoming “Nazi Germany” because ICE is “grabbing people off the street… and disappearing them.” | Nazi Germany comparison | (White House / oversight summaries) |
| 3 | Gov. Gavin Newsom (CA) | ICE / federal immigration | Described ICE as “secret police,” “authoritarian,” and said people have a “right to push back” against them. | Authoritarian / secret-police framing | (White House / oversight summaries) |
| 4 | Rep. John Larson (CT) | ICE | Said ICE is “the SS” and “the Gestapo” in criticism of immigration enforcement. | SS / Gestapo (explicit Nazi units) | (White House, Larson coverage) (The White House) |
| 5 | Rep. Robin Kelly (IL) | ICE | Publicly smeared ICE as “the Gestapo” and a “betrayal.” | Gestapo label | (Posts and statements) (Facebook) |
| 6 | Rep. Stephen Lynch (MA) | ICE | Referred to ICE agents as “the Gestapo” and “nondescript thugs.” | Gestapo + dehumanising language | (White House / ICEBlock coverage) (The White House) |
| 7 | Rep. Jasmine Crockett (TX) | ICE | Compared ICE to “slave patrols” in modern form. | Slave-patrol / proto-Gestapo analogy | (White House / national desk recaps) (WCYB) |
| 8 | Rep. Max Frost (FL) | ICE | Said ICE operations resemble “some of the worst horrors and crimes against humanity” in history. | Implied Holocaust / crimes-against-humanity analogy | (White House list of “ICE agitators”) (KATU) |
| 9 | Rep. Rashida Tlaib (MI) | ICE | Accused ICE of “terrorizing our communities” and “turning our country into a fascist police state,” calling it a “rogue agency.” | Fascist police-state framing | (White House / oversight summaries) (The White House) |
| 10 | Rep. Ayanna Pressley (MA) | ICE | Said ICE is “terrorizing our communities.” | Terror-force framing (paired with others’ Nazi analogies) | (White House / ICE rhetoric roundups) (Facebook) |
| 11 | Rep. Delia Ramirez (IL) | ICE | Described ICE as “a terror force” in immigrant communities and part of a “terrorist project.” | Terror-org framing | (Fox / Newsmax clips) (gazette.com) |
| 12 | Rep. Sylvia Garcia (TX) | ICE | Called ICE agents “thugs.” | Dehumanising, criminal-gang framing | (White House list / local coverage) (Facebook) |
| 13 | Rep. Pramila Jayapal (WA) | ICE | Called ICE agents “deranged,” accused them of “kidnapping,” and claimed “resistance” to ICE is “inspiring.” | Delegitimisation + explicit valorisation of “resistance” | (NY Post / Fox write-ups) (New York Post) |
| 14 | Rep. Ilhan Omar (MN) | ICE | Branded ICE “vile and beyond cruel” and said the agency should be abolished. | Moral-monster framing / abolition demand | (Press / social posts) (Facebook) |
| 15 | Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY) | CBP / detention system | Said the U.S. is “running concentration camps on our southern border” and defended that exact terminology. | Concentration-camp / Nazi-camp analogy | (Euronews / CBS News) (euronews) |
| 16 | Sen. Bernie Sanders (VT) | ICE | Urged people to “figure out a way to stop ICE from what they are doing as soon as possible.” | Crowd-directed “stop ICE” mobilising language | (White House criticism piece) (The White House) |
| 17 | Sen. Elizabeth Warren (MA) | ICE | Claimed ICE is intentionally stoking fear and tearing communities apart. | Fear-machine framing, contributes to “illegitimate terror force” narrative | (White House criticism piece) (The White House) |
| 18 | Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (NY) | ICE / Trump admin | Urged people to “fight” the Trump administration “in the streets” while also targeting ICE anonymity and operations. | “Fight in the streets” + ICE-focused antagonism | (White House / KATU recap) (KATU) |
| 19 | Boston Mayor Michelle Wu (MA) | ICE | Compared ICE agents to the neo-Nazi group NSC-131. | Direct neo-Nazi comparison | (White House / “ICE agitators” list) (KATU) |
| 20 | Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (IL) | ICE | Accused ICE of being “secret police” that are “terrorizing our communities.” | Secret-police / terror force framing | (White House / DHS-linked coverage) (The White House) |
| 21 | Rep. LaMonica McIver (D–NJ) | ICE / federal officers | Urged supporters to “shut down the city” because “we are at war,” and was charged with forcibly impeding and interfering with federal officers at an ICE facility protest. | Open “war” language + direct obstruction of ICE | (American Presidency Project / New York Post) (New York Post) |
| 22 | Rep. Nikki Budzinski (D–IL) | ICE | Called ICE agents “dangerous and reckless,” feeding the narrative that they are a rogue threat rather than lawful officers. | “Dangerous and reckless” framing of agents | (KFOX / regional coverage) (Congresswoman Michelle Fischbach) |
| 23 | Rep. Gil Cisneros (D–CA) | ICE | Accused ICE of having “terrorized” people through “racial profiling,” explicitly tying ICE to systemic terror. | “Terrorized” communities / racial-profiling narrative | (KFOX / related write-ups) (Congresswoman Michelle Fischbach) |
| 24 | Rep. Kweisi Mfume (D–MD) | Trump admin + ICE enforcement | Publicly “challenged” the administration to “a street fight,” in a context explicitly tied to ICE and immigration enforcement. | “Street fight” call – escalatory language | (American Presidency Project) (Congress) |
| 25 | Rep. Eric Swalwell (D–CA) | ICE | Said his “priority” was that ICE agents “are no longer faceless,” comparing them to “some 1800s bank robber or some KGB officer in Russia” – i.e., criminals and secret police. | KGB / criminal-gang analogy; doxxing-adjacent | (American Presidency Project) (Congress) |
| 26 | Rep. Becca Balint (D–VT) | ICE | Described ICE agents as “vigilantes” who “can’t be trusted.” | Vigilante framing – lawless actors | (White House / KATU recap) (KATU) |
| 27 | Rep. Jerry Nadler (D–NY) | ICE | Claimed ICE masks were to “hide misbehavior,” implying agents wear protection to conceal abuse rather than for safety. | Misconduct presumption / delegitimising protective gear | (ICEBlock / oversight coverage) (KOMO) |
| 28 | Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D–NY) | Trump admin + ICE | Implored people to “fight” the administration “in the streets,” while also insisting ICE wouldn’t keep their identities hidden “no matter what it takes.” | “Fight in the streets” + “no matter what it takes” about unmasking agents | (KATU “ICE agitators” piece) (KATU) |
| 29 | Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D–CA) | ICE | Pushed a “kidnapping” allegation, claiming ICE “kidnapped a woman on her way to work,” portraying ICE as criminal abductors rather than law enforcement. | “Kidnapping” framing – outright criminalising ICE | (KFOX / local news) (Congresswoman Michelle Fischbach) |
| 30 | Rep. Gil Cisneros (D–CA) | ICE | As above, repeated claims ICE “terrorized” people and engaged in racial profiling – reinforcing the “racist terror force” branding. | Terror-force / profiling narrative | (KFOX / related write-ups) (Congresswoman Michelle Fischbach) |
| 31 | Rep. Dan Goldman (D–NY) | ICE / DHS | Compared federal agents to “secret police” who must be unmasked, explicitly rejecting their right to anonymity in dangerous operations. | “Secret police” label + unmasking pressure | (ICEBlock / oversight coverage) (The Daily Beast) |
| 32 | Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield (D–OR) | ICE / immigration enforcement | Cited in House oversight materials as an AG whose rhetoric and policies against cooperating with ICE are part of the larger “sanctuary” posture; committee members explicitly called out his failure to regret comparing ICE to Nazis. | AG-level “Nazis” comparison (per oversight record) | (KATU “ICE agitators” report) (KATU) |
| 33 | Connecticut AG William Tong (D–CT) | ICE | Mentioned alongside Rep. John Larson in coverage of criticism that “likens ICE to the Gestapo” and Nazi-style policing; Tong aligned himself with Larson’s aggressive anti-ICE line. | Gestapo / Nazi-police criticism context | (Larson / local coverage) (Larson’s House) |
| 34 | Newark Mayor Ras Baraka (D–NJ) | ICE / CBP | On the campaign trail compared ICE agents to “slave catchers” weeks before his detention at a reopened ICE facility. | Slave-catcher + Jim-Crow-era analogy | (New York Post / NY1 recap) (New York Post) |
| 35 | Various “sanctuary” legislators (multiple states) | ICE / CBP | DHS and DOJ docs describe a wider pattern of officials “villainizing ICE agents as Nazis and secret police,” directly linking this to riots, facility blockades and assaults on agents. | Generalised Nazi / secret-police branding tied to real-world violence | (DHS statement on LA ICE riots) (Department of Homeland Security) |
| 36 | State Sen. Julie Salazar (D–NY) | ICE | At an NYC rally said “this isn’t about the legal immigration process, it is about ICE decimating our First Amendment rights,” framing ICE as a constitutional-rights violator. | Rights-stripping / authoritarian framing | (Spectrum News NY1) (NY1) |
| 37 | Assemblymember Clair Valdez (D–NY) | ICE | Claimed “our neighbors are being disappeared to foreign concentration camps in the middle of the night with no due process whatsoever” when describing ICE deportations. | Foreign concentration-camp analogy; disappearance narrative | (Spectrum News NY1) (NY1) |
| 38 | Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D–WA) | ICE | Posted that “ICE is acting like a terrorist force. People… are being kidnapped and disappeared off the street by masked men,” and then defended that line on CNN. | “Terrorist force” label + kidnapping / disappearance narrative | (ICE press release; CBSAustin; NY Post) (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) |
| 39 | Rep. Delia Ramirez (D–IL) | ICE | Stated “we will continue to call out the terrorist organization that is ICE” and doubled down in later interviews after backlash. | “Terrorist organization” branding of a U.S. agency | (Colorado Springs Gazette; Fox Business / Newsmax clips) (gazette.com) |
| 40 | State Rep. Marianna Anaya (D–NM) | ICE facility | Criticised a New Mexico ICE detention site by likening it to “Nazi concentration camps,” a comparison a state senator blasted as “ridiculous [and] ignorant.” | Nazi concentration-camp comparison | (New Mexico Sun summary) (newmexicosun.com) |
Key source links (non-exhaustive)
- White House “Democrats inspire vicious, escalating attacks on ICE”
https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/2025/07/democrats-inspire-vicious-escalating-attacks-on-ice/ (The White House) - KATU – “White House releases list of nearly 30 alleged ‘ICE agitators’”
https://katu.com/news/nation-world/unhinged-crusade-white-house-releases-list-of-nearly-30-alleged-ice-agitators-president-donald-trump-republicans-democrats-walz-newsom-pritzker-immigration-and-customs-enforcement-dallas-texas-shooting (KATU) - Spectrum News NY1 – “Advocates demand lawmakers enact protections against ICE” (Salazar, Valdez quotes)
https://ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/news/2025/04/18/advocates-demand-lawmakers-enact-protections-against-ice (NY1) - WCYB / The National News Desk – “Lawmakers debate causes of attacks against officers amid partisan tensions” (Crockett slave-patrols, Jayapal “terrorist force”, Walz/Pritzker Nazi rhetoric)
https://wcyb.com/news/nation-world/lawmakers-debate-causes-of-attacks-against-officers-amid-partisan-tension-national-gaurd-homeland-security (WCYB) - ICE.gov – “Statement from acting ICE Director Todd M. Lyons on Rep. Pramila Jayapal calling ICE a ‘terrorist force’”
https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/statement-acting-ice-director-todd-m-lyons-rep-pramila-jayapal-calling-ice-terrorist (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) - CBS Austin – “Pramila Jayapal defends comment calling ICE ‘a terrorist force’”
https://cbsaustin.com/news/nation-world/pramila-jayapal-defends-claim-ice-acts-like-terrorist-force (KEYE) - New York Post – “Newark Mayor Ras Baraka compared ICE to slave catchers weeks before arrest at detention facility”
https://nypost.com/2025/05/20/us-news/newark-mayor-ras-baraka-compared-ice-to-slave-catchers-weeks-before-arrest-at-detention-facility/ (New York Post) - Colorado Springs Gazette – “Democratic congresswoman calls ICE a ‘terrorist organization’” (Delia Ramirez)
https://gazette.com/2025/08/14/democratic-congresswoman-calls-ice-a-terrorist-organization-bf9e4031-498a-5726-a76f-ca2ef96f62e1/ (gazette.com) - Fox Business clip write-up (Ramirez “terrorist organization”) – example:
https://www.foxbusiness.com/video/6376927106112 (Fox Business) - New Mexico Sun – “Sen. Block: Rep. Anaya’s comparison of ICE facilities to concentration camps is ridiculous, ignorant”
https://newmexicosun.com/stories/675119242-sen-block-rep-anaya-s-comparison-of-ice-facilities-to-concentration-camps-is-ridiculous-ignorant (newmexicosun.com) - Euronews – “Ocasio-Cortez defends comparing migrant detention centers to ‘concentration camps’”
https://www.euronews.com/2019/06/18/ocasio-cortez-defends-comparing-migrant-detention-centers-concentration-camps-n1018871 (euronews) - CBS News – “Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez claims U.S. is running ‘concentration camps’ on southern border”
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-claims-us-running-concentration-camps-on-southern-border/ (CBS News) - Larson House site – “Homeland Security targets CT congressman for ICE criticism—he says he won’t back down” (Larson / Tong context)
https://larson.house.gov/media-center/in-the-news/homeland-security-targets-ct-congressman-ice-criticism-he-says-he-wont (Larson’s House) - DHS / LA ICE riots statement summarised (Gestapo / Nazis rhetoric + 1150% increase in attacks) – carried in multiple outlets, e.g.
https://www.dhs.gov/news/2025/06/07/dhs-releases-statement-violent-rioters-assaulting-ice-officers-los-angeles-ca-and (Department of Homeland Security)
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