In the wake of the mass shooting at an ICE detention facility in Texas, where the gunman wrote “anti-ICE” messages on his ammunition, the Department of Homeland Security and the White House implored Democrats to stop using such inflammatory rhetoric against an agency that is simply enforcing federal law. There has already been a 1000 percent surge in assaults against agents, and it will only get worse if they don’t stop vilifying ICE. Their unhinged supporters are clearly taking their words as a “battle cry for violence,” the administration said.
To that end, the White House published a very long list of examples, though one can safely assume it is not exhaustive.
- Gov. Tim Walz smeared ICE as the “modern-day Gestapo.”
- Gov. Gavin Newsom likened ICE to “secret police,” calling them “authoritarian” and proclaiming a “right to push back.”
- Gov. JB Pritzker claimed the country is becoming “Nazi Germany” because ICE is “grabbing people off the street… and disappearing them.”
- Rep. Robin Kelly smeared ICE as the “Gestapo” and a “betrayal.”
- Rep. Jasmine Crockett compared ICE to “slave patrols.”
- Rep. Sylvia Garcia referred to ICE agents as “thugs.”
- Rep. Delia Ramirez attacked ICE as “a terror force.”
- Rep. Pramila Jayapal called ICE agents “deranged,” accused them of “kidnapping,” and said “resistance” to ICE is “inspiring.”
- Rep. Rashida Tlaib said ICE is “terrorizing our communities” and “turning our country into a fascist police state,” and called it a “rogue agency.”
- Rep. Ayanna Pressley said ICE is “terrorizing our communities.”
- Rep. Max Frost compared ICE operations to “some of the worst horrors and crimes against humanity” in history.
- Rep. John Larson said ICE is “the SS” and “the Gestapo.”
- Rep. LaMonica McIver incited people to “shut down the city” because “we are at war.”
- Rep. Stephen Lynch smeared ICE agents as “the Gestapo” and “nondescript thugs.”
- Rep. Dan Goldman compared federal agents to “secret police” who must be unmasked.
- Rep. Becca Balint called ICE agents “vigilantes” who can’t be trusted.
- Rep. Ilhan Omar said ICE agents are “vile and beyond cruel,” and that the agency should be abolished.
- Rep. Nikki Budzinski called ICE agents “dangerous and reckless.”
- Sen. Bernie Sanders asked people to “figure out a way to stop ICE from what they are doing as soon as possible.”
- Sen. Elizabeth Warren claimed ICE is “intentionally stok[ing] fear” and “tear[ing] communities apart.”
- Rep. Hakeem Jeffries implored people to “fight” the Trump Administration “in the streets” and declared ICE agents “will be unsuccessful” in protecting their identities “no matter what it takes.”
- Boston Mayor Michelle Wu compared ICE agents to the neo-Nazi group NSC-131.
- Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson accused ICE of being “secret police” who are “terrorizing our communities.”
- Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass spread a disgusting, fabricated hoax that ICE “kidnapped” a woman on her way to work.
- Rep. Gil Cisneros claimed ICE has “terrorized” people through “racial profiling.”
- Rep. Eric Swalwell said it was his “priority” to ensure ICE agents “are no longer faceless,” comparing them to “some 1800s bank robber or some KGB officer in Russia.”
- Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said ICE “should not exist.”
- Rep. Kweisi Mfume challenged the Trump Administration to “a street fight.”
- Rep. Jerry Nadler accused ICE agents of “hiding misbehavior because otherwise why would they be wearing masks?” (White House)
The list will only keep growing, as it seems Democrats have no intention of toning down their rhetoric:
Just days after the Dallas ICE attack, Dem Rep Seth Moulton is back on CNN calling ICE the “gestapo."
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) September 28, 2025
Democrats aren't going to stop. pic.twitter.com/aY5NCLBkwQ
