During a Thursday hearing, former Democratic vice presidential candidate Gov. Tim Walz (D-Minn.) was brutally grilled by Republican lawmakers for his past comments likening Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to the "Nazi Gestapo."

Walz appeared alongside Democratic Govs. JB Pritzker of Illinois and Kathy Hochul of New York to testify on sanctuary cities before the House Oversight Committee. During the hearing, Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) confronted Walz for comments he made during a commencement ceremony in May where he said, "Donald Trump's modern-day Gestapo is scooping folks up off the street."

'Inflammatory rhetoric such as yours ... is responsible for putting a target on the back of every ICE agent who is risking their life to protect our communities.'

The insinuation Walz made is that federal law enforcement agencies under the direction of President Donald Trump are like the Nazi secret police deployed by Adolf Hitler.

"When you said the words 'modern-day Gestapo,' you were referring to ICE agents," Emmer said. "Gestapo, by the way, sir, was the official secret police of Hitler's Nazi Germany. So you're calling ICE agents modern-day Nazis."

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"Given the attacks on ICE agents that took place in Los Angeles over the weekend, don't you regard your dangerous, inflammatory rhetoric as a problem?" Emmer added.

As Emmer pointed out, recent ICE raids in California have been met with violent riots, which he says have been incited by the extreme rhetoric of Walz and other leftist politicians. During these riots, ICE agents and other members of law enforcement have been attacked with rocks, have dealt with arsonists, and have even had details about their location leaked, compromising their safety.

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Allison Robbert/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Walz stammered at Emmer's confrontation and failed to address his past comments.

"It saddens me that you refuse to express regret from comparing ICE to Nazis," Emmer said. "ICE agents are brave Americans who get up every morning, leave their families, and put their lives in harm's way to protect our country, sir. You, at the very least, owe an apology to these dedicated public servants."

"Inflammatory rhetoric such as yours, and the other governors on this panel, is responsible for putting a target on the back of every ICE agent who is risking their life to protect our communities."

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