Author Stephen King has compared the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to the Nazi ‘Gestapo’ in a post on social media.
Over the last 24 hours, several celebrities have been sharing posts and statements in response to the death of Alex Pretti, who was fatally shot on Saturday (January 24) by a federal immigration officer in Minneapolis.
ICU nurse Pretti, 37, was killed in the middle of the street just weeks after the death of Renee Good, who was shot in her car by an ICE agent.
Following the incident, the Department of Homeland Security said that federal immigration agents fired shots in a move of self-defence, claiming Pretti had a handgun at the time. This contrasts with both witness accounts and video footage, which show Pretti holding a cell phone, not a gun.
King has previously expressed his thoughts on Donald Trump a few times, including his literacy skills, and on how history might portray the Trump administration in the future, as he told The Sunday Times last year that he believes people will deny ever voting for him.
On Friday, the Carrie author shared a post on X, describing ICE as ‘the American Gestapo’.
He wrote: “ICE is the American Gestapo.”
The US Holocaust Memorial Museum explains that the Gestapo was the political police force of the Nazi state and became infamous for its brutality, as they explain on their website: “The word ‘Gestapo’ is often mistakenly used as a catchall for multiple groups of Nazi perpetrators. In reality, the Gestapo was just one of many institutions that perpetrated Nazi crimes.”
And King isn’t the only person to have made a similar comparison recently, with Bruce Springsteen telling crowds in New Jersey: “If you believe in democracy, in liberty, if you believe that truth still matters, that it’s worth speaking out, that it is worth fighting for, if you believe in the power of the law and no one stands above it, if you stand against heavily armed masked federal troops invading American cities and using Gestapo tactics against our fellow citizens, if you believe you don’t deserve to be murdered for exercising your American right to protest, then send a message to this president.”
Meanwhile, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz previously said: “Donald Trump’s modern-day Gestapo is scooping folks up off the streets.”
Following Saturday’s events, Pretti’s family have shared a statement urging people to ‘get the truth out about our son’, as they said: “We are heartbroken but also very angry.
“Alex was a kindhearted soul who cared deeply for his family and friends, and also the American veterans whom he cared for as an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA hospital. Alex wanted to make a difference in this world. Unfortunately, he will not be with us to see his impact.
“I do not throw around the hero term lightly. However, his last thought and act was to protect a woman.
“The sickening lies told about our son by the administration are reprehensible and disgusting. Alex is clearly not holding a gun when attacked by Trump’s murdering and cowardly ICE thugs.
“He has his phone in his right hand, and his empty left hand is raised above his head while trying to protect the woman ICE just pushed down, all while being pepper-sprayed.
“Please get the truth out about our son. He was a good man. Thank you.”
UNILAD has reached out to King and the ICE for comment.