Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons walked into a House Homeland Security Committee hearing expecting the usual complaints about “rhetoric” and “tone.” Instead, he walked out having publicly agreed — under oath — that his agency is using tactics straight out of the playbooks of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.
The exchange, now ricocheting across Capitol Hill and beyond, unfolded Tuesday during a grilling led by Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) at a hearing focused on ICE enforcement practices.
Goldman zeroed in on a tactic that has sparked outrage across immigrant communities and civil liberties groups: ICE agents stopping people in public and demanding proof of citizenship.
“Do you know what other regimes in the 20th century required similar proof of citizenship?” Goldman asked, calmly setting the trap.
Lyons hesitated but conceded the obvious. “Sir, there were various nefarious regimes that did that,” he replied.
Goldman didn’t let him squirm away.
“Is Nazi Germany one?” the congressman asked.
“Yes,” Lyons stated.
“Is the Soviet Union one?” Goldman pressed.
“Yes, sir, but I totally — This is the wrong type of question!” Lyons blurted out, suddenly realizing where this was going and trying — unsuccessfully — to shut it down.
Too late.
Goldman reminded Lyons that earlier in the hearing, the ICE chief complained that comparisons between ICE and the Gestapo or secret police “encourage threats against ICE agents.”
“You have it backwards, sir,” Goldman said. “People are simply making valid observations about your tactics, which are un-American and outright fascist.”
The congressman didn’t stop there.
“If you don’t want to be called a fascist regime or secret police, then stop acting like one,” he added. “But people are simply just observing what they are seeing. And that’s why people are making those comments.”
Lyons offered no meaningful rebuttal. Instead, he fell back on indignation, insisting the line of questioning itself was unfair — a familiar move when officials are confronted with the historical implications of their own policies.
But the damage was done. Under questioning, ICE’s top official acknowledged that demanding papers from people walking down American streets mirrors tactics used by some of the most infamous authoritarian regimes in history. That admission undercut his own argument that such comparisons are reckless or dangerous.
Lyons didn’t refute the comparison. He confirmed it, then scrambled to pretend it didn’t matter.
Watch the exchange below:
