'Outright fascist': Dem forces ICE director to admit his agents are like Nazis

Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) forced Todd Lyons, the acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, to admit that his agency uses the same tactics as Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.

During a Tuesday House Homeland Security Committee hearing, Goldman pointed out that ICE agents were "asking people walking on the streets of America to show proof of citizenship."

"Do you know what other regimes in the 20th century required similar proof of citizenship?" the lawmaker wondered.

"Sir, there were various nefarious regimes that did that," Lyons said.

"Is Nazi Germany one?" Goldman asked.

"Yes," Lyons stated.

"Is the Soviet Union one?" Goldman pressed.

"Yes, sir, but I totally — This is the wrong type of question!" Lyons exclaimed.

"You said in your opening statement that references to ICE as the Gestapo or the secret police encourage threats against ICE agents," the New York Democrat noted. "The problem is you have it backwards, sir. People are simply making valid observations about your tactics, which are un-American and outright fascist."

"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."