Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is facing strong criticism for his recent comments equating the experiences of children dealing with immigration enforcement to the struggles of Holocaust victim Anne Frank.
Walz made the comparison during a news conference on Jan. 25 while speaking out against the fatal shooting of ICU nurse Alex Pretti by Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis on Jan. 24.
"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. "Somebody's going to write that children's story about Minnesota."
Walz's comments were swiftly condemned, including by the U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC, among others, which publicly condemned the governor's remarks about Frank.
Anne Frank, the Jewish teenager whose famous diary details hiding with her family and other Jews during the Nazi persecution in World War II, died at a concentration camp after spending two years in hiding under horrific conditions. Frank was one of six million Jews murdered by the Nazis and their allies during the Holocaust.
