Tim Walz compares Minnesota ICE actions to Holocaust and Anne Frank: 'Hiding in their houses'

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Walz blasts Trump and federal agents, likens immigration sweep in Minneapolis to the Holocaust

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz sharply criticized President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement following a second ICE-related shooting in Minneapolis, saying the operation could inspire stories like Anne Frank about Minnesota.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Sunday likened federal immigration enforcement in Minnesota to the Holocaust and "The Diary of a Young Girl" by Anne Frank following the second fatal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) shooting in Minneapolis.

The incident on Saturday left 37-year-old Alex Pretti, a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) ICU nurse, dead during an encounter with immigration agents. Federal officials initially stated that Pretti was armed and resisted agents, while local accounts indicate Pretti was disarmed before he was fatally shot. 

During a press briefing, Walz claimed that some children in Minnesota now feel fear or uncertainty about going outside due to aggressive federal immigration operations.

"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," Walz said, referring to the German-Jewish teenager who documented her life in hiding during the Nazi persecution in World War II.

NARRATIVES CLASH AFTER TRUMP AND VICTIM’S FAMILY REACT TO SECOND MINNEAPOLIS SHOOTING

This undated photo provided by Michael Pretti shows Alex J. Pretti, the man who was shot by a federal officer in Minneapolis on Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026.  (Michael Pretti via AP)

"Somebody is going to write that children's story about Minnesota, and there's one person who can end this now," he said, referring to President Donald Trump. 

Walz further criticized Trump, saying the president smeared the victim, gaslit the entire country and sought to conceal evidence related to the killing.

"This family has gone through enough," Walz said of Pretti’s relatives. "And to have the most powerful man in the world drag their dead son with absolutely no evidence and gaslight the entire country."

"Sitting behind a keyboard at 2 a.m. and besmirching a VA nurse and a son and a coworker and a friend is despicable beyond all description," he added.

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A screengrab from a video shows a law enforcement officer spraying irritants at Alex Pretti before he was fatally shot by federal agents in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Jan. 24, 2026. (Reuters)

Trump and senior White House officials defended the federal response after Saturday's fatal shooting. Trump previously noted that Pretti was armed and carrying two extra magazines during the ICE confrontation, while White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller called Pretti a "would-be assassin" and "domestic terrorist" who "tried to murder federal law enforcement." Homeland Security Sec. Kristi Noem also noted that the victim "violently resisted" arrest, saying that the federal agent fired his weapon "fearing for his life."

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Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks beside a screen showing an image of a handgun during a press conference in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 24, 2026. (Nathan Howard/Reuters)

Walz, however, described Pretti as a modest American, emphasizing that he held a legally licensed concealed-carry permit, and blasted federal officials, including Vice President JD Vance and Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino, for unfairly portraying Pretti as a "crazed domestic terrorist."

"Beloved by his family, accomplished ICU nurse, skillful in ability to work with veterans, someone who is beloved by the community, no criminal record, lawful firearms owner," Walz said. "And then you heard the most powerful people in the world, certainly in this country — president, vice president, Gregory Bovino, Kristi Noem — narrate to you what you were looking at, that this was a domestic terrorist, crazed, running at law enforcement with the intent to kill massive numbers of that, sullying his name within minutes of this event happening."

ANTI-ICE AGITATOR ALLEGEDLY BITES OFF FEDERAL OFFICER'S FINGER DURING MINNEAPOLIS ATTACK

Democratic Minnesota Governor Tim Walz speaks to reporters at the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul, Minnesota, U.S. January 5, 2026.  (Tim Evans/Reuters)

Walz also alleged that federal officials blocked state investigators from accessing the scene and sought to destroy or alter evidence related to the shooting. 

"Then closing the crime scene, sweeping away the evidence, defying a court order and not allowing anyone to look at it," he said. "I don't care if you are conservative and you are flying a Donald Trump flag… If we cannot all agree that the smearing of an American citizen and besmirching everything they stood for and asking us not to believe what we saw, I don't know what else to tell you."

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The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension filed a lawsuit Saturday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota seeking to prevent the destruction or alteration of evidence related to the shooting. The lawsuit names the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Patrol, as well as Attorney General Pam Bondi as defendants. 

Fox News' Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.