Minnesota Gov Tim Walz draws criticism on Int’l Holocaust Remembrance Day, compares ICE operations to Nazi forces

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz on Sunday compared U.S. President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota to the actions of Nazi German forces in the Netherlands.

Speaking at a press conference after the killing of Alex Pretti on Saturday, Walz denounced Trump’s immigration enforcement operation, known as “Operation Metro Surge,” in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota. 

Walz drew a controversial comparison to Anne Frank – the Jewish teen whose wartime diary made her world-famous after she died in a Nazi concentration camp – in criticizing federal immigration enforcement.

After a series of physical confrontations between protesters and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in the state, Pretti was shot during an altercation on Saturday.

Walz told press conference attendees, “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 continued. “Somebody’s going to write that children’s story about Minnesota.” 

Gov. Walz: "We grew up reading the story of Anne Frank. Somebody is gonna write one regarding Minnesota." pic.twitter.com/t8LEAFhZEr

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) January 25, 2026

The following day, Walz’s comments drew criticism from Jewish leaders who objected to his comparison of conditions in Minnesota to the experience of Jews under Nazi oppression.

“Anne Frank was targeted and murdered solely because she was Jewish,” the U.S. Holocaust Museum said in a statement, which didn’t mention Walz by name. “Leaders making false equivalencies to her experience for political purposes is never acceptable. Despite tensions in Minneapolis, exploiting the Holocaust is deeply offensive, especially as antisemitism surges.” 

On Sunday, the museum urged its patrons to stand against “the abuse and exploitation" of the Holocaust.

“As Holocaust denial and violent antisemitism surge globally, these lessons have never been more urgent,” the Museum wrote on its webpage. “Yet the abuse and exploitation of Holocaust memory have become alarmingly commonplace, emanating from leaders across the political spectrum, celebrities, cultural influencers, and the general public. It must stop.” 

U.S. State Department antisemitism envoy Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun also criticized Walz over the comparison.

“Ignorance like this cheapens the horror of the Holocaust. 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,” Kaploun wrote on 𝕏. 

A short time after the Holocaust Museum posted its statement in response to Walz, Tennessee Democratic Rep. Steve Cohen referred to the two people killed by ICE agents in Minneapolis, “righteous among the nations,” a term used by the Yad Vashem Holocaust Remembrance Center to designate non-Jews who risked their lives to aid Jews. 

Yad Vashem uses the term “Righteous Among the Nations” to refer to people who “mustered extraordinary courage to uphold human values, risking their lives to save Jews by hiding them in their homes, providing false papers and assisting their escape,” according to its website.

Cohen, himself Jewish, said in a statement for International Holocaust Remembrance Day, that he “recognized Tuesday’s annual Holocaust Remembrance Day by calling Renee Good and Alex Pretti, killed by ICE agents in Minneapolis for standing up for a just cause, just like the ‘righteousness among the nations’ who saved Jews from the Holocaust.” [Cohen wrote “righteousness” instead of “righteous” in his statement, which has been preserved here.] 

In response, Yad Vashem said Cohen’s use of the term “irresponsible.” 

“U.S. Congressman Steve Cohen’s use of the term "Righteous Among the Nations" misrepresents both history and the specific purpose of the title,” Yad Vashem wrote on its 𝕏 account. 

U.S. Congressman Steve Cohen’s use of the term "Righteous Among the Nations" misrepresents both history and the specific purpose of the title. While recent events in Minnesota are tragic, such historical distortions - no matter what the purpose - are deeply concerning,…

— Yad Vashem (@yadvashem) January 27, 2026

While acknowledging the recent events in Minnesota as “tragic,” the museum called Cohen’s comments “deeply concerning, particularly on International Holocaust Remembrance Day.” 

“The ‘Righteous’ honor is meant to convey gratitude to non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust, the darkest chapter in modern history and a period of unprecedented genocide and widespread indifference,” Yad Vashem added. “We expect all persons of conscience, certainly political leaders in democracies, to refrain from such irresponsible and misleading inaccuracies.”