Okay, the abusive commenter has been blocked. When she started insulting others here, she signed her own eviction notice. I probably shouldn't have let her rant as long as I did. Personal attacks in this space are completely unacceptable. I thought she would restrict herself to flailing at me but I was mistaken. My apologies and I will 86 faster in the future.
I am the daughter of Holocaust survivors and educator and while I am careful about facile comparisons and while I recognize that history never repeats itself exactly, I do believe in echoes of history happening right now and the terror inflicted by of some ICE officials, the “othering” of large swatches of the public, the break down of legal protections are all too reminiscent of what happened before and during the Holocaust. We cannot avert our eyes to what is happening so it might be more useful to turn our attention to what we can do rather than argue about comparisons.
Thanks for writing from the heart, Elissa, and for your compassion and thoughtfulness.
I'm not Jewish (I'm a white Christian Australian / British dual citizen), and I can see both sides of the argument and I try to be careful and respectful when commenting on things where I'm not part of the community being affected.
But I do also see chilling parallels between the US today, with the rise of Trumpism (if you like), and 1930s Germany with the rise of Nazism. Many of us outside the US can see that and are appalled, whether or not we have connections with the US or are among the kind of people who may be targeted.
I also find it deeply disturbing that quite a number of Jewish and/or pro-Israel commentators, here on Substack and elsewhere, are blatantly and unashamedly pro-Trump. (As in, not just saying he may occasionally have done some good things — which he may — but lauding him as the saviour of the free world.) Even though, yes, he does say positive things about Israel, which is more than most on the opposite side of American politics have been doing. I get that. But anyone who can look at him as a whole, and at his track record so far (especially since taking power again last year), and still conclude he's a good thing for the world in general, and for Jews in particular... I just cannot fathom the thinking there. It's downright scary, really.
Thanks so much again for keeping on caring and writing as you do.
Am I allowed to agree with you about the lumping of the Holocaust into a catch-all metaphor while still noticing parallels in history? Historians are not saying the actions of ICE are not exactly like the Nazis. They are saying what is happening in America now is exactly what happened in 1930s Germany. No metaphor. History is being repeated.
"Again, the Nazi project was a specific, state-driven, ideological program that culminated in the targeting of millions for extermination." This statement is correct and precise in its formation. Historians, I believe, would say the first half of your statement can be applied to the current U.S. government. Even the second half can be applied today if "persecution" were substituted for "extermination." As to references to 1930s Germany, please note that these are historical references to the rise of Fascism, not references to the genocide, specifically. That is what I believe informed people mean when they compare ICE agents to the Gestapo, and detention facilities to concentration camps.
I agree history can offer warnings, and that governments can persecute people. My pushback is still centered on the analogy. When “1930s Germany” gets used as shorthand for “a policy I find cruel,” we risk erasing what made that period historically singular even well before the extermination took place: a state-driven, ideologically explicit project that steadily built the legal, bureaucratic, and cultural machinery for removing a people from public life and ultimately for their annihilation. That’s not just a difference in degree; it’s a difference in kind.
We can hate how ICE is carrying out its work and demand better — loudly. Present-day abuses can be answered in clear, forceful terms without borrowing Holocaust language as a rhetorical shortcut. That’s where I’ll leave it.
I'm a middle-aged German citizen (now also a naturalized US citizen) and I'm Jew-partnered/-adjacent. I am 100% supportive of comparing ICE/CBP/DHS's agents to the Gestapo because there's something to be learned from it, particularly through the lens of what we are or aren't willing to accept.
I was fortunate to grow up in Germany at a time when we had largely shed the debilitating shame of the Holocaust (so we could now meaningfully engage with it) and had not yet grown tired of it (so we were still willing to engage with it). We spent orders of magnitude more time examining our nation's sins of the past than any pupil in the US spends examining the US' past sins. Interestingly enough, I don't feel like it reduced my sense of pride in my country at all, it actually made my sense of pride feel more earned and durable, having the done the work, and being positioned to do the future work (which, like, here we are now!).
I visited Dachau last year and it was a far more frightening experience (particularly in 2025) than visiting Auschwitz, which I had done decades prior. Its museum does an excellent job of walking you through the escalation from "we may occasionally detain some people" to "we will detain many people indiscriminately" to "we will kill indiscriminately". (It took less than a year.)
As such, what I think history shows us time and again is that the end stage matters a lot less than the path to it because without a path to it, there cannot be that end stage.
We are seeing masked agents acting brutally, with impunity, and without any regard for collateral damage or humanity. Every safeguard that was supposed to have prevented us from getting this far down this path has failed so what reason is there to believe that any remaining safeguards will stop what comes next.
The comparisons to the Gestapo are not about drawing equivalences to the actions of the Gestapo but about drawing an equivalence to the inaction of the German people and the German systems of governance that accepted and supported what happened and enabled the end stage it led to. That's the part that matters, if I may.
Thanks for all you continue to do, and keep it up.
Your [comment](https://neveralone.substack.com/p/trust-fall/comment/210086256) below is good and as a result I've adjusted my opening paragraph above to advocate for doing the work of comparing rather than equating. I think history is worth learning from - many clearly aren't doing enough of it - and it's challenging to frame things in a manner that invites learning without simplistic equating as, like you said, simplistic equating cheapens both sides.
"Arguing is what we do, it’s who we are, and we owe so much of the richness of our tradition to famously argumentative hevrutah pairs like Hillel and Shammai, Rabbi Yochanan and Resh Lakish..." It is important to continue that tradition even when it is hard, and I was moved that you unblocked the woman.
I share Elissa’s moral alarm and her refusal to normalize cruelty. ICE policy and practice under Trump has been inhumane, racially charged, and deliberately theatrical in its intimidation. We should not need piles of bodies to recognize the early warning signs of state violence aimed at vulnerable populations. On that much, I think we are fully aligned. Where I diverge is not on intent, but on language. The Holocaust is not just a historical atrocity; it is a singular moral reference point, and invoking it as a comparative tool carries extraordinary weight. When we use it too readily, even with care and knowledge, we risk dulling the very alarm we are trying to sound.
I say this while fully acknowledging my own tension here. I have used “Gestapo-like” to describe ICE tactics, and I don’t pretend that’s a neutral phrase. But I see a meaningful distinction between descriptive analogy and categorical labeling. The former can illuminate tactics, structures, and warning signs; the latter collapses difference in ways that can shut down persuasion, especially among those we need most to reach. Language is not just an expression of outrage. It is a strategic instrument. When the Holocaust becomes a rhetorical shortcut, it can paradoxically make present-day abuses easier to dismiss as hyperbole, rather than harder to ignore as reality.
For me, honoring the Holocaust means guarding its gravity even as we apply its lessons. “Never Again” was not meant to be a metaphor factory; it was meant to be a moral firewall. We can and must call out white nationalism, dehumanization, and state violence without collapsing them into the Holocaust itself. Precision is not capitulation. It is responsibility. If our goal is to mobilize, persuade, and stop what is happening now, then the care we take with language is not a distraction from the fight. It is part of the fight.
Agree. I paused when I wrote it, knowing it was potentially a loaded and inappropriate descriptor, but went with it anyway. Sure enough, I got some pushback.
For all the "fierce AND accurate" arguers...what word should we use instead? Pulling people out of their homes without warrants and executing people in the streets is pretty gestapo-like. Is there a better phrase that as clearly communicates the horror?
In my experience, the majority of the people disagreeing with the use of "gestapo" with regard to ICE are those who support Trump and the tactics his thugs are using. I agree with the points that the Shoah wasn't a generic warning label and that overusing the phrasing is a very big problem. Overusing the word "genocide" is a huge problem. What do we use instead?
Ms. Wald's point that the same folk so vociferously opposed to calling ICE "gestapo" are totally fine comparing the pro-Hamas crowd to the KKK is well taken. The horrors of the KKK especially in the Jim Crow South aren't ones Jews are as familiar with as we are with the horrors of the Shoah, but that doesn't mean that using that language doesn't minimize the horrors in a similar way.
Except the Klan was/is also anti-Jew and the protestors swathing their faces *are imitating and signaling solidarity with Hamas* who are as brutally murderous as the Klan. I still stand by that comparison even though they aren't exactly the same.
You thought about the topic very deeply and carefully. I cannot agree more with what you wrote. You are able to put into words what many of us are thinking.
I would like to add that the woman who was particularly strident attacked "you" as a person, rather than disagreeing with your position and explaining why. I totally understand why you blocked her (albeit temporarily).
I hope you're able to notice that many people are arguing with me and yet again, you are the only one doing so with rage and character aspersions. We simply don't see this the same way and I truly think that's OK and I'm not sure why you can't accept that.
They're not being polite, they are being respectful of me, each other, the community guidelines, the familial bond between Jews, the space we've built here, our tradition of dissent, and our mutual goodwill.
Good G-d. The energy wasted by the “my suffering can beat up your suffering” crowd. What is there to defend when WE ARE ALL AT RISK?
Those who do so, I hope you will continue to shout from the rooftops that ICE is to the US as the Gestapo was to Germany, in case anyone is still asleep.
My relatives murdered at Babi Yar would not want me to remain silent about what should be obvious to all. My friend who attends No Kings and Ice Out rallies with a sign identifying herself as the daughter of (number tattooed on her mother’s arm) is not offended by such comparisons; rather, she honors her family by sounding cautionary warnings as the child of a survivor.
There are many children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors living in the US and Canada, and they were among the first to speak up about the similarities, even back in 2016, almost a decade before ICE became a lawless militia that invaded American cities, neighborhoods, homes, and schools.
Elissa, may I make a suggestion?. Community guidelines are not just for you. They are for the community that you are creating. They are your guidelines, what you deem necessary, and we sign on, we sign onto your guidelines as well. If we want to be part of this substack community, we need to abide by these guidelines. If you are not already doing it, it’s a good idea to remind people about the guidelines and repost them from time to time. But if they are violated, it’s really up to you to protect both yourself and the community. I hope there is a way for you to remove inappropriate comments or even put the kibosh on a conversation, or reframe it as a a question for the community. I encourage you to take the step of removing a comment when someone has crossed the line. As a member of the community that you have formed and are leading, I want you to know that I don’t want to read character assassinations and vitriol. It’s not emotionally safe for you or any of us. A person who has these feelings or thoughts and feels compelled to express them needs to find others outside of this venue to talk with, or find an acceptable way to express disagreement in the first place. Second, if someone consistently engages in this behavior, I think you owe it to the community to remove them from the group. You can choose, of course, to personally engage with them outside of substack. That’s your business. It obviously makes it harder if the person is someone you think of as a friend. I hope this is helpful and once again thanks for all you do. It’s not easy to be a monitor of a group but it’s a very important role.
I've been struggling with this question because I honestly feel for her. I do think her response is a trauma response. But I also agree with what you say here. I definitely won't let it go too far.
I agree and understand trauma. Of course we ought to feel empathy for anyone struggling with trauma. I think trauma is best handled outside of this kind of venue. In this venue having guidelines and abiding by them is actually a way to serve people who suffer with trauma by putting a clear fence around what constitutes acceptable expression and also prevents traumatizing others in the group. Of course, having guidelines doesn’t mean everything will always run smoothly. If someone reading your work feels traumatized, that’s a legitimate response—their feeling. We all have a right to feel our own feelings and think our own thoughts. A person who is traumatized by what you write also has a right to let you know about it-hopefully after taking a big breath. It’s the vitriol that is not acceptable. It’s a fine line, because as a writer you sometimes express things strongly, etc. But you are not speaking strongly or with vitriol to individuals in our group. I love your work and I’m sure you will find a way forward.
I don’t love the “Olympics of suffering” at all. However the hatred against Jews and the Holocaust remain to this day quite a specific and unique and very precisely targeted hatred. Many people were hated over the course of History and many suffered and were decimated. The Jews I would posit were uniquely scapegoated all through History- not only at specific times. (With some variations in degrees and some odd good years here and there). I don’t like that we are “special” in that sense at all. But I can’t help but see that we really seem to unite both the extreme right and the extreme left better than any other group. I don’t think ICE likes us but I also don’t think we would get any protection from the left who will fight back for other minorities. It is just such a convergence of various groups all laser focusing on Jews. And the Nazis were the ones who invented the “Final solution” concept for the Jews- not for anyone else even if they hated other minorities just as much (homosexuals, gypsies and whatnot). There is something in me that balks at invoking the Holocaust for all those reasons. Also I don’t think ICE has shown a propensity to want to destroy the Jewish race per se… yes parallels are tempting but they are dangerous in my humble opinion. Words matter. Just like using genocide nilly willy is dangerous. War atrocities are not genocide. Arresting hard working Hispanics at Home Depot is not the same as wanting to exterminate a race.
I poskun with Emil Fackenheim who argued for the uniqueness of the Shoah. Something unique is by its nature logically incomparable. I do not like ICE and have decided to become more actively involved in working toward reining them in. They are poorly trained and arrogant in their behavior. They have violated over 100 court orders. But, happily, this experiment in repression is not playing well in the country, as evidenced by the lopsided victory in Texas last week.
Ok. So here's the main thing. Trump may or may not possess totalitarian impulses. America, the ideal America, does not, and I believe that the ideal impulse in America will prevail. In the meantime, the political atmosphere in which ICE is thriving will not grow to Gestapo proportions. I know there's a lot of angst about what's happening in this country, and that ICE should be properly criticized, limited, perhaps even eliminated. But by Fackenheim's logic, they are not Nazis, who were a unique phenomenon in world history
I don't share your confidence about America. You could be right and I hope you are but I absolutely don't presume that. Trump tried to murder half of Congress. He was reelected. He pardoned ALL the J6ers, even the ones who brutally injured and killed cops, even the man in a Camp Auschwitz sweatshirt. He praised them as great patriots. Too many still support him. Hitler didn't have a majority. He had 1/3 of the country behind him and another 1/3 who shrugged their shoulders and turned their heads as their neighbors were being dragged away. I'm thrilled you've decided to get more active about reining ICE in. If totalitarianism fails to take root here, it will not be because America is inherently resistant to dehumanization and murderous brutality (see: Native American genocide and centuries of Black enslavement). It will ONLY be because people like us stand up and fight hard to stop it.
you missed my point which was that the Nazi comparisons only do violence to the uniqueness of the Shoah. Also, as Nazi comparisons are thrown around like baseballs, it doesn't help the intellectual atmosphere by compounding the claim. Totalitarianisms abound. Let that language suffice. Phil M. Cohen
Adding to your points regarding the direction America is headed (Instead of numerating points I letter them, in the tradition of Hillel and Shamai, which in Hebrew Gematria is the same as numbering.):
a) non-criminal men, women, and children are being detained in crowded detention centers, enduring days and days of inhumane conditions. Some have died this year due to lack of medical attention. People who have seen these detention centers routinely call them concentration camps.
b) The U.S. government is actively seeking and buying warehouses all around the country to convert into massive detention facilities. The question is: Once all illegal aliens are deported, then what will all these detention centers be used for?
c) I read an article recently that details how the current president and his administration have approved the use of antisemitic tropes in official business. I cannot find that article now so I'll move on to adjacent issues. In addition to the president's frequent antisemitic slurs and accusations that the Jews would be responsible for him losing an election, journalists have taken note that this president(-elect) has assembled the most antisemitic cabinet in recent history. (https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/11/anti-semitism-donald-trumps-cabinet-picks/680741/)
d) This is a sidebar, a distant relative to the issue we're discussing. The next "No Kings Day" rally is scheduled for a Saturday - in fact the Sabbath before Passover. I do not believe the planners of this event deliberately exclude Jewish Americans. But I have a suspicion that pro-Israel banners will be far less welcome than pro-Palestine banners.
I'm not a historian but I will try to explain the differences as best as I can in a substack comment, which is probably not the best format but anyway.
1. The victims
Hitler had outlined his convictions long before he came to power in his manifesto "Mein Kampf." His enemies included disabled people, ethnic minorities (primarily but not limited to the Jews), lbgtq+ people, and political opponents. He believed that there were demographics could be charted in a racial hierarchy, with Germans being on the top of that hierarchy. This ideology was taught starting at the youngest levels to Germans once Hitler came to power and provides a through-line for all Nazi policies. The goal of the Nazis was to rule the world and eliminate any ethnic minorities they perceived at the bottom of the hierarchy.
The goal was always world domination. They started in Germany itself, by stripping CITIZENS of their rights and property. My great grandfather, as well as most of the first victims of the Nazis was a full citizen. They did not commit any crime to deserve their fate. You may not like it, but coming to this country without the proper paperwork is against the law. There are many legal ways of becoming a resident and eventually a citizen in the US. It is much more difficult to become a citizen of Germany for example than it is to become a US citizen. And it doesn't have to do with race. I have several friends who became US citizens from South American backgrounds. Most people in my naturalization ceremony were not white.
So if we're comparing Nazis and the Trump administration, we first have to acknowledge that the racial element does not exist in the same way. Trump's ideology seems to be his ego more than anything else. That doesn't mean that whatever he does is excusable. His why is different but there's no problem criticizing his how.
Lastly, about the victims, illegal immigrants have a CHOICE. The victims of the Nazis had NO CHOICE. The Nazi government did not give them free tickets and bonuses to self deport. In the early stages, if you were lucky and had enough money, you could be granted a visa. But let's say you left Germany at that point and went into a country that the Nazis later on invaded. They did not stop because a person was outside of Germany. As I mentioned, this was a global campaign.
Further, once deported, the majority of the victims were MURDERED. Many were forced to work before they were murdered but ultimately the goal was not to keep them alive. The result was so devastating that even today, more than 70 years later, the Jewish population has not recovered its numbers. I do not know the statistics for Sinti and Roma people but I can imagine the effects are similarly still felt today.
There have been deaths related to ICE encounters recently. I don't know enough about them to fully give my opinion on them. However, what I can tell you is that there is no systematic extermination of illegal immigrants. I personally know 2 people who were deported recently. They are still alive. I feel this is such a basic but important distinction.
2. Rule of law
While there are some serious concerns about due process, we shouldn't pretend that it doesn't exist in the US today. The Nazis disabled all civil rights when they came to power.
3. The Gestapo
I would encourage anyone who wants to compare ICE to the Gestapo to read more please. You don't understand the sheer scale and reach of the Gestapo. For example, Germans couldn't just buy food at the grocery store during wartime. They got food stamps and the rations were controlled so nobody could harbor Jews or dissidents in secret. If they found out you did that, they would MURDER you. If your neighbor didn't like your face, he could report you to the Nazis, even if you were a full German citizens, even if you were a "pure Aryan." They encouraged German children in school to spy on their parents. The Gestapo could search your home without a warrant. And this applied to the entire country. I'm sorry, but even if you think that what is happening in this country are "early warning signs," it doesn't justify equating the two now.
And I didn't even touch on the fact that there were previous large scale deportations under other presidents that have not ended democracy as we know it. But I digress.
4. Giving permission to invoke the memory of the Holocaust
I am not a survivor. I can only explain my opinion based on the information I have. And my opinion is that unless someone is a survivor, that they should avoid Holocaust comparisons as if they are glowing charcoal embers. Unfortunately, we live at a time when Holocaust inversion happens regularly to make some political points. If we as Jews also play into that, it gives these inversions legitimacy. Further it muddles what is actually happening. Very simply, just don't do it. It's enough. To a degree, it makes it cheapens the actual ICE violence because it makes it seem exaggerated. And when has exaggerating helped prevent undesired outcomes?
5. The KKKaffiyeh
In fact I have less issues with this comparisons because there are many people who wear a kaffiyeh while excusing, encouraging and calling for violence against Jews. There were several murders/violent attacks committed "for Palestine," like the murder of Sarah Milgroom. There is a clear ideological overlap between the KKK and Hamas.
I so disagree there's no racial element. He's revoking the legal status of Haitians right now. ICE is torturing brown citizens at will. Elon Musk threw a Sieg Heil on the national stage, Nick Fuentes was hosted at Mar-A-Lago, the recruitment images used by this regime are Aryan supremacy posters, the slogan beneath Noem's podium ("One Of Ours, All Of Yours) is a Nazi slogan, Bovino was walking around in a Nazi-esque overcoat, and there are countless other deliberate nods to Nazi Germany.
Much respect for your point of view. I wonder if, as an immigrant from Germany, you realize that your experience with the U.S. immigration system was much different than that of people from Asian, African, and Latin American countries. My wife is from Thailand and holds a green card. One time, during the first administration of the current president, she flew to Chicago from Thailand. I drove to Chicago from a farm in Kansas to pick her up. I looked forward to showing her the hometowns of Abraham Lincoln and Mark Twain on the way back to the farm. I waited an extra long time for her to emerge into the arrivals hall. When she finally walked through, she was so upset she could not even talk to me. After the way she was treated in Customs, she decided she would go back to Thailand and never come back to the U.S. She is lucky because she is safe in Thailand. That is not the case for thousands of Central and South American natives who seek asylum in the U.S. The racial element may not exist in the exact same way it existed in Nazi Germany, but its existence in its current form is anathema to what America is supposed to be all about. And it goes against the most basic of Jewish values as I understand them. (Personal note: Keep thinking and keep writing. The best stories happen when your thoughts align themselves with your heart.)
I don't know what you're wife's experience was. I was questioned quite a lot actually upon entering. When I had a green card, I was also questioned and patted down. I don't know if it has to do with my headscarf but I recently returned from Germany, taking 3 flights in a row and I was more vetted than other people next to me and always told to take off my shoes whereas they didn't ask anyone else. Its been many years so I don't remember how I was vetted before the scarf but I don't remember having to go through that.
I do think that speaking English well has helped me with my immigration. Even the person conducting my citizenship interview was impressed. Did I have an advantage? Yes, my husband was a citizen already and I immigrated from a first world country. But I'm not 100% convinced that this is primarily about race. I think nationality has a much more influence than that. Most of my neighbors are first or second generation immigrants from South and Central America. I have two friends who immigrated here from Peru and were waiting in Peru for their papers before they came.
Another friend had a nanny who was here for years without proper papers but she only got deported after she got in trouble with the law. These are all anecdotes of course but I don't think they should be disregarded.
Thank you for your kind words. My wife went back to Thailand years ago. Enough said about that.
Did you ever visit the U.S. as a tourist? If so, did you apply for a tourist visa before you arrived or were you granted a visa upon arrival? "nationality has a much more influence than ..[race]." Yes, this is correct. People from Asian, African, and Latin American countries face many more difficulties coming to the U.S. than people from western Europe. To get the first and second tourist visa, my wife and I had to appear at interviews at the U.S. Embassy in Thailand, and we had to come up with a large sum of money to pay application fees.
Your anecdotes are not only valid, they lend support to what many Americans object to about ICE and the current administration. A nanny was here for years and only got deported after she got in trouble with the law. In other words, she was treated humanely while she was in the U.S. She was not dragged out of a car and put in a mass detention center. She received due process of the law and was deported back to her country, not to a dangerous prison in Ecuador. Is that right? Because that is the way it should have been. That is the way it was before DJT became president.
Previous administrations deported thousands of more illegal residents than this administration. There were no riots because the agencies involved followed the law. They did not terrorize communities like ICE agents are doing now. Previous presidents did not aspire to be dictators. What differentiates this administration from previous administrations is its blatant disregard for the Constitution, its destruction of time-honored institutions, and its rapid usurping of power from the other two branches of government. To historians the era in modern history that most closely resembles what America is becoming is 1930s Germany.
By the way, I hope you are safe and feel safe wearing a scarf where you are. I applaud you for wearing a scarf. It is the Jewish thing to do. In today's climate it is a brave thing to do. I wear a hat in public. Maybe now I will become braver and wear a kipah instead. No promises. Lehitraot.
I came to the US three times on a tourist visa if I'm not mistaken but it was before I got married.
As far as the nanny, she was in jail and they said that if she were released she would be immediately deported. Her former employer tried to get her a lawyer but it was very difficult. This was already under the current administration. In the end, she decided she didn't want to sit in jail any longer to wait for an appeal and she self deported back to her home country (not Ecuador). I feel sorry for her but it's not the same as being systematically murdered.
Great! The law was followed, and the nanny is legally in her own country, hopefully happy and safe.
Now the weekend approaches and I haven't even reviewed the parasha yet. If you are in FL, I am one hour ahead of you and about 1000 miles south of you. Have a nice night and a peaceful Shabbat
Okay, the abusive commenter has been blocked. When she started insulting others here, she signed her own eviction notice. I probably shouldn't have let her rant as long as I did. Personal attacks in this space are completely unacceptable. I thought she would restrict herself to flailing at me but I was mistaken. My apologies and I will 86 faster in the future.
I am the daughter of Holocaust survivors and educator and while I am careful about facile comparisons and while I recognize that history never repeats itself exactly, I do believe in echoes of history happening right now and the terror inflicted by of some ICE officials, the “othering” of large swatches of the public, the break down of legal protections are all too reminiscent of what happened before and during the Holocaust. We cannot avert our eyes to what is happening so it might be more useful to turn our attention to what we can do rather than argue about comparisons.
Thanks for writing from the heart, Elissa, and for your compassion and thoughtfulness.
I'm not Jewish (I'm a white Christian Australian / British dual citizen), and I can see both sides of the argument and I try to be careful and respectful when commenting on things where I'm not part of the community being affected.
But I do also see chilling parallels between the US today, with the rise of Trumpism (if you like), and 1930s Germany with the rise of Nazism. Many of us outside the US can see that and are appalled, whether or not we have connections with the US or are among the kind of people who may be targeted.
I also find it deeply disturbing that quite a number of Jewish and/or pro-Israel commentators, here on Substack and elsewhere, are blatantly and unashamedly pro-Trump. (As in, not just saying he may occasionally have done some good things — which he may — but lauding him as the saviour of the free world.) Even though, yes, he does say positive things about Israel, which is more than most on the opposite side of American politics have been doing. I get that. But anyone who can look at him as a whole, and at his track record so far (especially since taking power again last year), and still conclude he's a good thing for the world in general, and for Jews in particular... I just cannot fathom the thinking there. It's downright scary, really.
Thanks so much again for keeping on caring and writing as you do.
I respect your sincerity and positive intention in your viewpoint and ultimately
that matters most. Full stop.
Here was my own basic take (posted originally on my own page) and I do stand by it.
I am deeply uncomfortable with Nazi/Gestapo comparisons to ICE — even when they’re framed as “not exactly like Nazis, but…”
The Holocaust wasn’t a generic “warning label.”
It was a specific genocidal, totalitarian project with a particular ideology and machinery.
I do not see any benefit to lumping that horrific history into a catch-all metaphor.
Plus such lumping causes real pain to survivors and their descendants — including yours truly — who carry that legacy.
Let’s fight for reforms that actually protect people: accountability, lawful limits, and humane standards.
We can be fierce AND accurate.
Am I allowed to agree with you about the lumping of the Holocaust into a catch-all metaphor while still noticing parallels in history? Historians are not saying the actions of ICE are not exactly like the Nazis. They are saying what is happening in America now is exactly what happened in 1930s Germany. No metaphor. History is being repeated.
Since history never repeats, that is wrong.
You’re absolutely allowed to notice parallels in history. But going to push back here too on the claim that this is “exactly 1930s Germany.”
No, what has happened is awful, but it’s just not that. Not even close.
Again, the Nazi project was a specific, state-driven, ideological program that culminated in the targeting of millions for extermination.
"Again, the Nazi project was a specific, state-driven, ideological program that culminated in the targeting of millions for extermination." This statement is correct and precise in its formation. Historians, I believe, would say the first half of your statement can be applied to the current U.S. government. Even the second half can be applied today if "persecution" were substituted for "extermination." As to references to 1930s Germany, please note that these are historical references to the rise of Fascism, not references to the genocide, specifically. That is what I believe informed people mean when they compare ICE agents to the Gestapo, and detention facilities to concentration camps.
I agree history can offer warnings, and that governments can persecute people. My pushback is still centered on the analogy. When “1930s Germany” gets used as shorthand for “a policy I find cruel,” we risk erasing what made that period historically singular even well before the extermination took place: a state-driven, ideologically explicit project that steadily built the legal, bureaucratic, and cultural machinery for removing a people from public life and ultimately for their annihilation. That’s not just a difference in degree; it’s a difference in kind.
We can hate how ICE is carrying out its work and demand better — loudly. Present-day abuses can be answered in clear, forceful terms without borrowing Holocaust language as a rhetorical shortcut. That’s where I’ll leave it.
I'm a middle-aged German citizen (now also a naturalized US citizen) and I'm Jew-partnered/-adjacent. I am 100% supportive of comparing ICE/CBP/DHS's agents to the Gestapo because there's something to be learned from it, particularly through the lens of what we are or aren't willing to accept.
I was fortunate to grow up in Germany at a time when we had largely shed the debilitating shame of the Holocaust (so we could now meaningfully engage with it) and had not yet grown tired of it (so we were still willing to engage with it). We spent orders of magnitude more time examining our nation's sins of the past than any pupil in the US spends examining the US' past sins. Interestingly enough, I don't feel like it reduced my sense of pride in my country at all, it actually made my sense of pride feel more earned and durable, having the done the work, and being positioned to do the future work (which, like, here we are now!).
I visited Dachau last year and it was a far more frightening experience (particularly in 2025) than visiting Auschwitz, which I had done decades prior. Its museum does an excellent job of walking you through the escalation from "we may occasionally detain some people" to "we will detain many people indiscriminately" to "we will kill indiscriminately". (It took less than a year.)
As such, what I think history shows us time and again is that the end stage matters a lot less than the path to it because without a path to it, there cannot be that end stage.
We are seeing masked agents acting brutally, with impunity, and without any regard for collateral damage or humanity. Every safeguard that was supposed to have prevented us from getting this far down this path has failed so what reason is there to believe that any remaining safeguards will stop what comes next.
The comparisons to the Gestapo are not about drawing equivalences to the actions of the Gestapo but about drawing an equivalence to the inaction of the German people and the German systems of governance that accepted and supported what happened and enabled the end stage it led to. That's the part that matters, if I may.
Thanks for all you continue to do, and keep it up.
I am similarly an immigrant from Germany and I'm appalled by your stance but I will write a separate comment to explain.
Your [comment](https://neveralone.substack.com/p/trust-fall/comment/210086256) below is good and as a result I've adjusted my opening paragraph above to advocate for doing the work of comparing rather than equating. I think history is worth learning from - many clearly aren't doing enough of it - and it's challenging to frame things in a manner that invites learning without simplistic equating as, like you said, simplistic equating cheapens both sides.
"Arguing is what we do, it’s who we are, and we owe so much of the richness of our tradition to famously argumentative hevrutah pairs like Hillel and Shammai, Rabbi Yochanan and Resh Lakish..." It is important to continue that tradition even when it is hard, and I was moved that you unblocked the woman.
Still with you. And often in awe of you.
I share Elissa’s moral alarm and her refusal to normalize cruelty. ICE policy and practice under Trump has been inhumane, racially charged, and deliberately theatrical in its intimidation. We should not need piles of bodies to recognize the early warning signs of state violence aimed at vulnerable populations. On that much, I think we are fully aligned. Where I diverge is not on intent, but on language. The Holocaust is not just a historical atrocity; it is a singular moral reference point, and invoking it as a comparative tool carries extraordinary weight. When we use it too readily, even with care and knowledge, we risk dulling the very alarm we are trying to sound.
I say this while fully acknowledging my own tension here. I have used “Gestapo-like” to describe ICE tactics, and I don’t pretend that’s a neutral phrase. But I see a meaningful distinction between descriptive analogy and categorical labeling. The former can illuminate tactics, structures, and warning signs; the latter collapses difference in ways that can shut down persuasion, especially among those we need most to reach. Language is not just an expression of outrage. It is a strategic instrument. When the Holocaust becomes a rhetorical shortcut, it can paradoxically make present-day abuses easier to dismiss as hyperbole, rather than harder to ignore as reality.
For me, honoring the Holocaust means guarding its gravity even as we apply its lessons. “Never Again” was not meant to be a metaphor factory; it was meant to be a moral firewall. We can and must call out white nationalism, dehumanization, and state violence without collapsing them into the Holocaust itself. Precision is not capitulation. It is responsibility. If our goal is to mobilize, persuade, and stop what is happening now, then the care we take with language is not a distraction from the fight. It is part of the fight.
Agree. I paused when I wrote it, knowing it was potentially a loaded and inappropriate descriptor, but went with it anyway. Sure enough, I got some pushback.
Thanks, I think! What I like about Elissa is her brutal honesty. And she writes and leads with her heart.
The biggest difference between ICE and the Gestopo is the Gestopo kept better records.
For all the "fierce AND accurate" arguers...what word should we use instead? Pulling people out of their homes without warrants and executing people in the streets is pretty gestapo-like. Is there a better phrase that as clearly communicates the horror?
In my experience, the majority of the people disagreeing with the use of "gestapo" with regard to ICE are those who support Trump and the tactics his thugs are using. I agree with the points that the Shoah wasn't a generic warning label and that overusing the phrasing is a very big problem. Overusing the word "genocide" is a huge problem. What do we use instead?
Ms. Wald's point that the same folk so vociferously opposed to calling ICE "gestapo" are totally fine comparing the pro-Hamas crowd to the KKK is well taken. The horrors of the KKK especially in the Jim Crow South aren't ones Jews are as familiar with as we are with the horrors of the Shoah, but that doesn't mean that using that language doesn't minimize the horrors in a similar way.
Except the Klan was/is also anti-Jew and the protestors swathing their faces *are imitating and signaling solidarity with Hamas* who are as brutally murderous as the Klan. I still stand by that comparison even though they aren't exactly the same.
You thought about the topic very deeply and carefully. I cannot agree more with what you wrote. You are able to put into words what many of us are thinking.
I would like to add that the woman who was particularly strident attacked "you" as a person, rather than disagreeing with your position and explaining why. I totally understand why you blocked her (albeit temporarily).
I hope you're able to notice that many people are arguing with me and yet again, you are the only one doing so with rage and character aspersions. We simply don't see this the same way and I truly think that's OK and I'm not sure why you can't accept that.
They're not being polite, they are being respectful of me, each other, the community guidelines, the familial bond between Jews, the space we've built here, our tradition of dissent, and our mutual goodwill.
Good G-d. The energy wasted by the “my suffering can beat up your suffering” crowd. What is there to defend when WE ARE ALL AT RISK?
Those who do so, I hope you will continue to shout from the rooftops that ICE is to the US as the Gestapo was to Germany, in case anyone is still asleep.
My relatives murdered at Babi Yar would not want me to remain silent about what should be obvious to all. My friend who attends No Kings and Ice Out rallies with a sign identifying herself as the daughter of (number tattooed on her mother’s arm) is not offended by such comparisons; rather, she honors her family by sounding cautionary warnings as the child of a survivor.
There are many children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors living in the US and Canada, and they were among the first to speak up about the similarities, even back in 2016, almost a decade before ICE became a lawless militia that invaded American cities, neighborhoods, homes, and schools.
Yes, you do seem very angry. Such anger does not lead to civilized discussions, but instead, it looks like an insulting tantrum.
Elissa, may I make a suggestion?. Community guidelines are not just for you. They are for the community that you are creating. They are your guidelines, what you deem necessary, and we sign on, we sign onto your guidelines as well. If we want to be part of this substack community, we need to abide by these guidelines. If you are not already doing it, it’s a good idea to remind people about the guidelines and repost them from time to time. But if they are violated, it’s really up to you to protect both yourself and the community. I hope there is a way for you to remove inappropriate comments or even put the kibosh on a conversation, or reframe it as a a question for the community. I encourage you to take the step of removing a comment when someone has crossed the line. As a member of the community that you have formed and are leading, I want you to know that I don’t want to read character assassinations and vitriol. It’s not emotionally safe for you or any of us. A person who has these feelings or thoughts and feels compelled to express them needs to find others outside of this venue to talk with, or find an acceptable way to express disagreement in the first place. Second, if someone consistently engages in this behavior, I think you owe it to the community to remove them from the group. You can choose, of course, to personally engage with them outside of substack. That’s your business. It obviously makes it harder if the person is someone you think of as a friend. I hope this is helpful and once again thanks for all you do. It’s not easy to be a monitor of a group but it’s a very important role.
I've been struggling with this question because I honestly feel for her. I do think her response is a trauma response. But I also agree with what you say here. I definitely won't let it go too far.
I agree and understand trauma. Of course we ought to feel empathy for anyone struggling with trauma. I think trauma is best handled outside of this kind of venue. In this venue having guidelines and abiding by them is actually a way to serve people who suffer with trauma by putting a clear fence around what constitutes acceptable expression and also prevents traumatizing others in the group. Of course, having guidelines doesn’t mean everything will always run smoothly. If someone reading your work feels traumatized, that’s a legitimate response—their feeling. We all have a right to feel our own feelings and think our own thoughts. A person who is traumatized by what you write also has a right to let you know about it-hopefully after taking a big breath. It’s the vitriol that is not acceptable. It’s a fine line, because as a writer you sometimes express things strongly, etc. But you are not speaking strongly or with vitriol to individuals in our group. I love your work and I’m sure you will find a way forward.
Thank you for your thoughtful comments. You’re helping me learn and think about these things.
I don’t love the “Olympics of suffering” at all. However the hatred against Jews and the Holocaust remain to this day quite a specific and unique and very precisely targeted hatred. Many people were hated over the course of History and many suffered and were decimated. The Jews I would posit were uniquely scapegoated all through History- not only at specific times. (With some variations in degrees and some odd good years here and there). I don’t like that we are “special” in that sense at all. But I can’t help but see that we really seem to unite both the extreme right and the extreme left better than any other group. I don’t think ICE likes us but I also don’t think we would get any protection from the left who will fight back for other minorities. It is just such a convergence of various groups all laser focusing on Jews. And the Nazis were the ones who invented the “Final solution” concept for the Jews- not for anyone else even if they hated other minorities just as much (homosexuals, gypsies and whatnot). There is something in me that balks at invoking the Holocaust for all those reasons. Also I don’t think ICE has shown a propensity to want to destroy the Jewish race per se… yes parallels are tempting but they are dangerous in my humble opinion. Words matter. Just like using genocide nilly willy is dangerous. War atrocities are not genocide. Arresting hard working Hispanics at Home Depot is not the same as wanting to exterminate a race.
I poskun with Emil Fackenheim who argued for the uniqueness of the Shoah. Something unique is by its nature logically incomparable. I do not like ICE and have decided to become more actively involved in working toward reining them in. They are poorly trained and arrogant in their behavior. They have violated over 100 court orders. But, happily, this experiment in repression is not playing well in the country, as evidenced by the lopsided victory in Texas last week.
Ok. So here's the main thing. Trump may or may not possess totalitarian impulses. America, the ideal America, does not, and I believe that the ideal impulse in America will prevail. In the meantime, the political atmosphere in which ICE is thriving will not grow to Gestapo proportions. I know there's a lot of angst about what's happening in this country, and that ICE should be properly criticized, limited, perhaps even eliminated. But by Fackenheim's logic, they are not Nazis, who were a unique phenomenon in world history
I don't share your confidence about America. You could be right and I hope you are but I absolutely don't presume that. Trump tried to murder half of Congress. He was reelected. He pardoned ALL the J6ers, even the ones who brutally injured and killed cops, even the man in a Camp Auschwitz sweatshirt. He praised them as great patriots. Too many still support him. Hitler didn't have a majority. He had 1/3 of the country behind him and another 1/3 who shrugged their shoulders and turned their heads as their neighbors were being dragged away. I'm thrilled you've decided to get more active about reining ICE in. If totalitarianism fails to take root here, it will not be because America is inherently resistant to dehumanization and murderous brutality (see: Native American genocide and centuries of Black enslavement). It will ONLY be because people like us stand up and fight hard to stop it.
you missed my point which was that the Nazi comparisons only do violence to the uniqueness of the Shoah. Also, as Nazi comparisons are thrown around like baseballs, it doesn't help the intellectual atmosphere by compounding the claim. Totalitarianisms abound. Let that language suffice. Phil M. Cohen
Adding to your points regarding the direction America is headed (Instead of numerating points I letter them, in the tradition of Hillel and Shamai, which in Hebrew Gematria is the same as numbering.):
a) non-criminal men, women, and children are being detained in crowded detention centers, enduring days and days of inhumane conditions. Some have died this year due to lack of medical attention. People who have seen these detention centers routinely call them concentration camps.
b) The U.S. government is actively seeking and buying warehouses all around the country to convert into massive detention facilities. The question is: Once all illegal aliens are deported, then what will all these detention centers be used for?
c) I read an article recently that details how the current president and his administration have approved the use of antisemitic tropes in official business. I cannot find that article now so I'll move on to adjacent issues. In addition to the president's frequent antisemitic slurs and accusations that the Jews would be responsible for him losing an election, journalists have taken note that this president(-elect) has assembled the most antisemitic cabinet in recent history. (https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/11/anti-semitism-donald-trumps-cabinet-picks/680741/)
d) This is a sidebar, a distant relative to the issue we're discussing. The next "No Kings Day" rally is scheduled for a Saturday - in fact the Sabbath before Passover. I do not believe the planners of this event deliberately exclude Jewish Americans. But I have a suspicion that pro-Israel banners will be far less welcome than pro-Palestine banners.
I'm not a historian but I will try to explain the differences as best as I can in a substack comment, which is probably not the best format but anyway.
1. The victims
Hitler had outlined his convictions long before he came to power in his manifesto "Mein Kampf." His enemies included disabled people, ethnic minorities (primarily but not limited to the Jews), lbgtq+ people, and political opponents. He believed that there were demographics could be charted in a racial hierarchy, with Germans being on the top of that hierarchy. This ideology was taught starting at the youngest levels to Germans once Hitler came to power and provides a through-line for all Nazi policies. The goal of the Nazis was to rule the world and eliminate any ethnic minorities they perceived at the bottom of the hierarchy.
The goal was always world domination. They started in Germany itself, by stripping CITIZENS of their rights and property. My great grandfather, as well as most of the first victims of the Nazis was a full citizen. They did not commit any crime to deserve their fate. You may not like it, but coming to this country without the proper paperwork is against the law. There are many legal ways of becoming a resident and eventually a citizen in the US. It is much more difficult to become a citizen of Germany for example than it is to become a US citizen. And it doesn't have to do with race. I have several friends who became US citizens from South American backgrounds. Most people in my naturalization ceremony were not white.
So if we're comparing Nazis and the Trump administration, we first have to acknowledge that the racial element does not exist in the same way. Trump's ideology seems to be his ego more than anything else. That doesn't mean that whatever he does is excusable. His why is different but there's no problem criticizing his how.
Lastly, about the victims, illegal immigrants have a CHOICE. The victims of the Nazis had NO CHOICE. The Nazi government did not give them free tickets and bonuses to self deport. In the early stages, if you were lucky and had enough money, you could be granted a visa. But let's say you left Germany at that point and went into a country that the Nazis later on invaded. They did not stop because a person was outside of Germany. As I mentioned, this was a global campaign.
Further, once deported, the majority of the victims were MURDERED. Many were forced to work before they were murdered but ultimately the goal was not to keep them alive. The result was so devastating that even today, more than 70 years later, the Jewish population has not recovered its numbers. I do not know the statistics for Sinti and Roma people but I can imagine the effects are similarly still felt today.
There have been deaths related to ICE encounters recently. I don't know enough about them to fully give my opinion on them. However, what I can tell you is that there is no systematic extermination of illegal immigrants. I personally know 2 people who were deported recently. They are still alive. I feel this is such a basic but important distinction.
2. Rule of law
While there are some serious concerns about due process, we shouldn't pretend that it doesn't exist in the US today. The Nazis disabled all civil rights when they came to power.
3. The Gestapo
I would encourage anyone who wants to compare ICE to the Gestapo to read more please. You don't understand the sheer scale and reach of the Gestapo. For example, Germans couldn't just buy food at the grocery store during wartime. They got food stamps and the rations were controlled so nobody could harbor Jews or dissidents in secret. If they found out you did that, they would MURDER you. If your neighbor didn't like your face, he could report you to the Nazis, even if you were a full German citizens, even if you were a "pure Aryan." They encouraged German children in school to spy on their parents. The Gestapo could search your home without a warrant. And this applied to the entire country. I'm sorry, but even if you think that what is happening in this country are "early warning signs," it doesn't justify equating the two now.
And I didn't even touch on the fact that there were previous large scale deportations under other presidents that have not ended democracy as we know it. But I digress.
4. Giving permission to invoke the memory of the Holocaust
I am not a survivor. I can only explain my opinion based on the information I have. And my opinion is that unless someone is a survivor, that they should avoid Holocaust comparisons as if they are glowing charcoal embers. Unfortunately, we live at a time when Holocaust inversion happens regularly to make some political points. If we as Jews also play into that, it gives these inversions legitimacy. Further it muddles what is actually happening. Very simply, just don't do it. It's enough. To a degree, it makes it cheapens the actual ICE violence because it makes it seem exaggerated. And when has exaggerating helped prevent undesired outcomes?
5. The KKKaffiyeh
In fact I have less issues with this comparisons because there are many people who wear a kaffiyeh while excusing, encouraging and calling for violence against Jews. There were several murders/violent attacks committed "for Palestine," like the murder of Sarah Milgroom. There is a clear ideological overlap between the KKK and Hamas.
I so disagree there's no racial element. He's revoking the legal status of Haitians right now. ICE is torturing brown citizens at will. Elon Musk threw a Sieg Heil on the national stage, Nick Fuentes was hosted at Mar-A-Lago, the recruitment images used by this regime are Aryan supremacy posters, the slogan beneath Noem's podium ("One Of Ours, All Of Yours) is a Nazi slogan, Bovino was walking around in a Nazi-esque overcoat, and there are countless other deliberate nods to Nazi Germany.
I'm going to quote myself "the racial element does not exist in the same way."
there's so much more she said here that deserves your response.
Much respect for your point of view. I wonder if, as an immigrant from Germany, you realize that your experience with the U.S. immigration system was much different than that of people from Asian, African, and Latin American countries. My wife is from Thailand and holds a green card. One time, during the first administration of the current president, she flew to Chicago from Thailand. I drove to Chicago from a farm in Kansas to pick her up. I looked forward to showing her the hometowns of Abraham Lincoln and Mark Twain on the way back to the farm. I waited an extra long time for her to emerge into the arrivals hall. When she finally walked through, she was so upset she could not even talk to me. After the way she was treated in Customs, she decided she would go back to Thailand and never come back to the U.S. She is lucky because she is safe in Thailand. That is not the case for thousands of Central and South American natives who seek asylum in the U.S. The racial element may not exist in the exact same way it existed in Nazi Germany, but its existence in its current form is anathema to what America is supposed to be all about. And it goes against the most basic of Jewish values as I understand them. (Personal note: Keep thinking and keep writing. The best stories happen when your thoughts align themselves with your heart.)
Also, I hope your wife gets her citizenship soon so she won't have to go through that again.
Hello,
I don't know what you're wife's experience was. I was questioned quite a lot actually upon entering. When I had a green card, I was also questioned and patted down. I don't know if it has to do with my headscarf but I recently returned from Germany, taking 3 flights in a row and I was more vetted than other people next to me and always told to take off my shoes whereas they didn't ask anyone else. Its been many years so I don't remember how I was vetted before the scarf but I don't remember having to go through that.
I do think that speaking English well has helped me with my immigration. Even the person conducting my citizenship interview was impressed. Did I have an advantage? Yes, my husband was a citizen already and I immigrated from a first world country. But I'm not 100% convinced that this is primarily about race. I think nationality has a much more influence than that. Most of my neighbors are first or second generation immigrants from South and Central America. I have two friends who immigrated here from Peru and were waiting in Peru for their papers before they came.
Another friend had a nanny who was here for years without proper papers but she only got deported after she got in trouble with the law. These are all anecdotes of course but I don't think they should be disregarded.
Thank you for your kind words. My wife went back to Thailand years ago. Enough said about that.
Did you ever visit the U.S. as a tourist? If so, did you apply for a tourist visa before you arrived or were you granted a visa upon arrival? "nationality has a much more influence than ..[race]." Yes, this is correct. People from Asian, African, and Latin American countries face many more difficulties coming to the U.S. than people from western Europe. To get the first and second tourist visa, my wife and I had to appear at interviews at the U.S. Embassy in Thailand, and we had to come up with a large sum of money to pay application fees.
Your anecdotes are not only valid, they lend support to what many Americans object to about ICE and the current administration. A nanny was here for years and only got deported after she got in trouble with the law. In other words, she was treated humanely while she was in the U.S. She was not dragged out of a car and put in a mass detention center. She received due process of the law and was deported back to her country, not to a dangerous prison in Ecuador. Is that right? Because that is the way it should have been. That is the way it was before DJT became president.
Previous administrations deported thousands of more illegal residents than this administration. There were no riots because the agencies involved followed the law. They did not terrorize communities like ICE agents are doing now. Previous presidents did not aspire to be dictators. What differentiates this administration from previous administrations is its blatant disregard for the Constitution, its destruction of time-honored institutions, and its rapid usurping of power from the other two branches of government. To historians the era in modern history that most closely resembles what America is becoming is 1930s Germany.
By the way, I hope you are safe and feel safe wearing a scarf where you are. I applaud you for wearing a scarf. It is the Jewish thing to do. In today's climate it is a brave thing to do. I wear a hat in public. Maybe now I will become braver and wear a kipah instead. No promises. Lehitraot.
I came to the US three times on a tourist visa if I'm not mistaken but it was before I got married.
As far as the nanny, she was in jail and they said that if she were released she would be immediately deported. Her former employer tried to get her a lawyer but it was very difficult. This was already under the current administration. In the end, she decided she didn't want to sit in jail any longer to wait for an appeal and she self deported back to her home country (not Ecuador). I feel sorry for her but it's not the same as being systematically murdered.
Great! The law was followed, and the nanny is legally in her own country, hopefully happy and safe.
Now the weekend approaches and I haven't even reviewed the parasha yet. If you are in FL, I am one hour ahead of you and about 1000 miles south of you. Have a nice night and a peaceful Shabbat
Shabbat shalom to you and everyone!