ATLANTA — A Georgia state lawmaker derided U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in Riverdale “the same chilling tactics used in pre–Nazi Germany” but has declined to clarify or defend his assertion.
In a June 3 statement, state Representative Eric Bell, D-Jonesboro, decried the actions, which he initially said took place at a Walmart. However, he later clarified that the enforcement took place at a Home Depot in Riverdale.
“I call for the immediate release of the individual taken, and a full investigation into this rogue operation,” Bell said in a statement. “Our communities will not be terrorized by the same chilling tactics used in pre–Nazi Germany. We will not be silent while our neighbors are snatched from public spaces by unidentified agents of fear.
“And we must rise — not in panic, but in power,” the lawmaker added.
Bell did not respond to a request from this publication seeking comment on the appropriateness of using the “pre–Nazi Germany” comparison for actions a politician might disagree with, particularly given the number of antisemitic attacks nationwide, such as the one in Boulder, Colorado. The lawmaker was asked to explain how “alleged ICE activity” compares to the death of six million Jewish people during World War II and if “Pre-Nazi Germany” referred to the Weimar Republic or if he meant Nazi Germany.
Bell subsequently released a second statement clarifying where law enforcement allegedly detained people in the country illegally. He also quoted Anne Frank in an apparent attempt to assuage concerns about his previous invocation of “pre–Nazi Germany.”
The Weimar Republic, also known as the German Reich, was Germany’s democratic government from 1919 to 1933, preceding the rise of the Nazis.
Sen. Emanuel Jones, D-Decatur, who issued a statement following the terrorist attack in Boulder, declined to comment on Bell’s invocation of “pre–Nazi Germany.”
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