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Tim Walz cites Anne Frank reference while criticizing Trump admin after Alex Pretti's death, ‘Many of us grew up…’
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz compared Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown in the Twin Cities to the brutal Nazi occupation that Anne Frank chronicled.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz compared Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown in the Twin Cities to the brutal Nazi occupation that Anne Frank chronicled. This comes after the killing of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old nurse, in Minneapolis. Pretti is the second person to be fatally shot by a federal agent in the city this month, after the shooting of Renee Nicole Good.
“We have got children in Minnesota hiding in their houses, afraid to go outside,” Walz said during a press conference on Sunday, January 25, according to the New York Post. “Many of us grew up reading that story of Anne Frank.”
He added, "Somebody’s going to write that children’s story about Minnesota.”
Frank chronicled her time in hiding during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands for more than two years until her capture and subsequent death.
Walz promised to be defiant in the face of Operation Metro Surge. He also urged the Trump administration to end the surge of federal law enforcement personnel to the state.
“If it was the intention of Donald Trump to make an example of Minnesota, then I’m damn proud of the example that the world is seeing,” said Walz.
Pam Bondi’s letter to Tim Walz
Attorney General Pam Bondi has sent a warning letter to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Saturday, January 24, after Pretti’s death. In her letter, Bondi urged him to support federal law enforcement efforts and federal immigration policy amid unrest in the city. She accused Walz and other Minnesota officials of refusing to “support the men and women risking their lives to protect Americans and uphold the rule of law,” and ignoring “federal immigration law by enacting sanctuary law and policies,” leaving federal agents to operate alone.
Bondi told Walz and his office that they must “restore the rule of law, support ICE officers, and bring an end to the chaos in Minnesota.” She highlighted various demands, such as sharing all of Minnesota’s records on Medicaid and Food and Nutrition Service Programs, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program data, with the federal government, and repealing “the sanctuary policies that have led to so much crime and violence” in Minnesota.”
Read More | Trump admin faces humiliation over ‘assassin’ remark on Alex Pretti Minneapolis shooting, 'You're lying'
In response, Walz snapped back on Sunday, “There’s 2 million documents in the Epstein files we’re still waiting on. Go ahead and work on those.”
“We cooperate. We don’t do their job,” Walz said on being pressed about the Trump administration’s demands to get more access to the state’s jails. “It’s their job to do immigration.”
Top officials, including Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, said that an investigation is underway into Pretti’s death.
“I don’t care if you are conservative, are flying a Donald Trump flag, a libertarian ‘Don’t Tread on Me,’ a Democratic Socialist — this is an inflection point, America,” Walz said. “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, someone has to be accountable.”
