Evidence from credible sources supports the statement as accurate. Learn more in Methodology.
Confirm that Governor Tim Walz made the cited remarks and identify the source/timestamp of each quoted phrase.
Multiple credible sources confirm that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has used all three characterizations — "threat," "reckless/ recklessness," and "modern-day Gestapo" — in direct reference to federal immigration enforcement operations carried out by ICE under Donald Trump. In May 2025, Walz said in a University of Minnesota Law School commencement speech that "Donald Trump’s modern-day Gestapo is scooping folks up off the streets," a remark officially condemned by DHS and ICE as directed at ICE agents. Following a fatal January 2026 ICE shooting in Minneapolis, Walz stated that the Trump administration’s "dangerous, sensationalized operations are a threat to our public safety" and that this "recklessness" had "cost someone their life," comments reported by multiple outlets in the context of ICE’s enforcement surge in Minnesota. While "threat" and "recklessness" are applied to the administration’s ICE-led operations rather than the personal character of individual officers, a reasonable reader would understand these statements as describing ICE’s conduct and its impact on public safety. The verdict is True because documentary evidence shows Walz did call ICE agents "modern-day Gestapo" and described their Trump-directed operations as a "threat" to public safety and marked by "recklessness," which reasonably fits the claim that he used that language about ICE officers and their activities.