The Department of Homeland Security tore into failed Democratic VP candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz for his disgusting comments about ICE.
Walz made the comments during the commencement speech at the University of Minnesota Law School.
It is absolutely sickening to compare ICE law enforcement agents to the Gestapo.Attacks and demonization of ICE and our partners is wrong. ICE officers are now facing a 413% increase in assaults.Our message is clear: DO NOT come to this country illegally. If you do, we will arrest you, deport you and you will never return.
Walz spent his time trying to instill fear into the students, accusing President Donald Trump of finding “new ways to trample rights and undermine the rule of law.”
Donald Trump’s modern-day Gestapo is scooping folks up off the streets. They’re in unmarked vans, wearing masks, being shipped off to foreign torture dungeons—no chance to mount a defense, not even a chance to kiss a loved one goodbye, just grabbed up by masked agents, shoved into those vans, and disappeared.To be clear, there’s no way for us to know whether they were actually criminals or not, because they refused to give them a trial. We’re supposed to just take their word for it.
Walz also described Stephen Miller as an “aspiring fascist” while insisting his comments are not hyperbole.
I cannot find a full video of the speech, but here’s the transcript:
GOV. TIM WALZ: The court doesn’t always get it right. Nixon’s Attorney General, Elliot Richardson, chose to step aside rather than follow through on a criminal president’s unlawful order. Well, once again, in this pivotal moment in history, lawyers are our first and last line of defense.When you join the bar, you’re going to swear an oath to preserve and protect the Constitution and the laws of your state and nation. Elected leaders like me take the same oath. That means that, no matter what we do or where we work, we share not only a moral duty but a professional obligation to defend the rule of law.That’s a pretty big deal. The rule of law is the foundation of pretty much everything we care about. It’s what lets us settle our differences peacefully, makes it possible to start or grow a business, and empowers us to stand here and exchange ideas freely. Without the rule of law, everything else crumbles away, and that’s where you all come in.Right now, more than any other time in my lifetime, we need you to live up to the oath that you’re about to take, because I have to be honest with you: you are graduating into a genuine emergency. Every single day, the President of the United States finds new ways to trample rights and undermine the rule of law.Now, I get it—for some of you out there, some would say this is getting way too political for a commencement address. But I would argue I wouldn’t be honoring my oath if I didn’t address this head-on.I’m going to start with the flashing red light: Donald Trump’s modern-day Gestapo is scooping folks up off the streets. They’re in unmarked vans, wearing masks, being shipped off to foreign torture dungeons—no chance to mount a defense, not even a chance to kiss a loved one goodbye, just grabbed up by masked agents, shoved into those vans, and disappeared.To be clear, there’s no way for us to know whether they were actually criminals or not, because they refused to give them a trial. We’re supposed to just take their word for it. When duly elected members of Congress tried to exercise their constitutional right of oversight at an ICE facility, they get shoved around and threatened with arrest. When courts told them repeatedly to knock it off, they brazenly defy them.Meanwhile, we have an aspiring fascist in Stephen Miller on TV talking about suspending habeas corpus. All of you know this: that’s only used in times of rebellion or emergency, neither of which is happening right now. By the way, they’re not only kicking out folks who are undocumented here, they’re kicking out citizens. A few weeks ago, they kicked out three children, all under 8 years old. One of them had brain cancer, for Christ’s sake.It’s not hyperbole to say we’re not far from a world where anyone could get that knock at the door, and there’s no guarantee you’d get your day in court or that you’d ever make it home alive from whatever corner of the world they stick you in.Then you have a Vice President who, when not getting chastised by various popes, is offering up horrific arguments—horrific arguments. It is his view that due process is optional. I don’t know what the hell they teach at Yale, but the Constitution is pretty clear. It doesn’t say “only if it’s convenient.” It’s crystal clear.Here’s the thing: due process isn’t just lawyer speak. It’s a right that stretches back centuries. It was wrested away from kings, that heroes fought and died for, and we’re just going to surrender it? Surrender it to Donald Trump, a guy whose only knowledge of the law is by being a criminal defendant himself?I am going to talk about it. It’s happening in front of our eyes. I’m going to talk about this damn jet. I don’t know if you heard it. The President is getting this—I’m a little obsessive about things that really irritate the crap out of me, and this type of stuff—because this palace in the sky is getting from the Qatari government, which he gets to keep for himself when he’s done.Let’s be very clear: it’s a flying bribe, blatantly unconstitutional. Even worse, this whole deal was signed off on by the Attorney General of the United States, ostensibly our nation’s top lawyer, famously an independent job. But now, the Attorney General, Pam Bondi, is acting as the President’s personal attorney, and, weirdly enough, coincidentally enough, she happens to be a lobbyist for the government of Qatar.This is what the crumbling of the rule of law looks like in real time, and it’s exactly what the founders of this nation feared: a tyrant abusing power to persecute scapegoats and enemies.Look, I get it. There are nervous folks on my side of the aisle. They don’t want us to touch any of this. I keep hearing this: “Oh, the polling, really, it sucks talking about this. It’s a distraction from more important issues.” Consultants steer away from talking about this rule of law stuff. But caring about this stuff isn’t partisanship or politics—it’s patriotism. The rule of law, it’s the whole ball game.What you stand for is what makes America, America. If we don’t fight back now, why did we get elected, and why did we become attorneys to defend the law?
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