The Parallels We Can’t Ignore: How U.S. Immigration Detention Mirrors the Warning Signs of the Holocaust
History doesn’t repeat itself exactly, but it follows patterns. The mass detention and deportation of immigrants in the U.S. today is not just an immigration policy—it is an authoritarian framework being built in real time. The structures being put in place—the mass arrests, the detention camps, the dehumanization of an entire group of people—mirror some of the darkest precedents in history, including the early mechanisms of the Holocaust.
This is not hyperbole. This is how state-sponsored persecution begins.
The Step-by-Step Process of Dehumanization
The Holocaust didn’t begin with death camps. It began with rhetoric, laws, and a slow but deliberate process of dehumanization that conditioned society to accept mass imprisonment and genocide. When we look at how ICE and immigration enforcement are operating today, we see disturbing similarities to the early tactics used by Nazi Germany against Jews, Romani people, and other targeted groups.
1. Identifying and Marking a Group as the "Enemy"
Before a group can be persecuted, it must first be singled out and vilified.
Then: Nazi Germany systematically targeted Jewish people by blaming them for economic struggles, cultural decline, and crime. Propaganda depicted them as dangerous outsiders who were corrupting society.
Now: Immigrants—particularly from Latin America—are being blamed for crime, unemployment, and societal decay. Political rhetoric refers to them as "invaders," "criminals," and "rapists," echoing the same fear-based dehumanization tactics.
In both cases, the goal is to make the public see an entire group of people as less than human, as a threat that must be contained and removed.
2. Expansion of State Surveillance and Enforcement
The next step in authoritarian control is the expansion of state policing and surveillance to track, control, and remove the targeted population.
Then: Nazi Germany established the Gestapo, a secret police force used to track down, arrest, and detain Jewish people, political dissidents, and others deemed “undesirable.” These forces worked with local law enforcement to expand their reach.
Now: ICE functions similarly—operating raids, surveilling communities, and detaining people without due process. Programs like 287(g) allow local law enforcement to act as ICE agents, effectively deputizing police to track and detain immigrants, even in places that were once considered safe.
The rise of mass surveillance and unannounced raids means immigrants today live in fear, just as Jewish families did in 1930s Germany, never knowing when their homes might be invaded, when they might be separated from their families, or when they might be detained indefinitely.
3. Expansion of Detention Centers (Internment Camps by Another Name)
Once a group has been identified and rounded up, the next step is to contain them in mass detention facilities—isolated, dehumanized, and stripped of their rights.
Then: In the 1930s, before the establishment of extermination camps, Nazi Germany created forced labor and internment camps to imprison Jewish people, political prisoners, and others. These camps were overcrowded, unsanitary, and used as holding facilities while the regime determined their next steps.
Now: The U.S. government is rapidly expanding immigration detention centers, many of which are privately owned and for-profit. Reports from these facilities describe inhumane conditions—overcrowding, medical neglect, physical abuse, and even the forced sterilization of detainees.
The privatization of detention centers, where corporations profit off of human suffering, mirrors how Nazi Germany used forced labor camps to extract economic value from prisoners before deciding their fate.
4. Family Separation as a Psychological Weapon
One of the most traumatic tactics used by authoritarian regimes is family separation—designed to break people psychologically, remove their support systems, and ensure compliance.
Then: Nazi officials separated families upon arrival at camps, deciding who would be sent to forced labor and who would be sent to die. This tactic ensured that prisoners had no social ties, no advocates, and no hope.
Now: Under U.S. immigration policy, thousands of children have been separated from their parents at the border, many of whom remain lost in the system. In some cases, ICE has intentionally separated families as a method of punishment, ensuring that detainees are completely alone and unable to fight back.
Family separation is a deliberate form of psychological warfare, designed to make people easier to control and break them emotionally.
5. The Rhetoric of “Just Following Orders”
When atrocities happen, those in power rarely take direct responsibility. Instead, they claim that officials were just following the law—that the system itself required these actions.
Then: After World War II, Nazi officials on trial at Nuremberg defended their actions by saying they were “just following orders.” They argued that they were enforcing existing laws and doing what the government required.
Now: ICE agents, border patrol officers, and detention facility operators claim the same thing. They say they are simply enforcing immigration laws, following orders, and doing their jobs—even when those jobs include tearing families apart, abusing detainees, and creating conditions so brutal that detainees have died in their custody.
This excuse has been used throughout history to justify horrific acts. We must recognize it for what it is: an attempt to escape accountability while actively participating in a system of oppression.
Where Does This Lead?
In Nazi Germany, what began as forced deportation and mass detention escalated into something far worse. The infrastructure was built before the full horror began.
The camps were established.
The population was dehumanized.
The police were militarized.
The laws were written to justify every step.
By the time mass killings began, the mechanisms were already in place, and the world did not react in time.
Right now, the U.S. is at a crossroads. The government has already:
✔ Expanded the use of mass detention centers.
✔ Militarized immigration enforcement.
✔ Created a privatized system that profits from human suffering.
✔ Established policies that strip immigrants of their rights.
The next steps will be determined by how much resistance they meet.
Why This Cannot Be Ignored
The biggest mistake people make when comparing modern events to the Holocaust is assuming that it can only happen the same way again—that unless there are gas chambers and mass executions, it isn’t comparable. But genocide and state-sponsored persecution do not happen overnight. They happen in steps, over time, while the public is conditioned to accept them as normal.
The U.S. has already reached the stage of mass imprisonment of targeted groups. The question now is: how much further will it go?
We have two choices: recognize the patterns, break the cycle, and fight back—or wait until it’s too late.
Source List
American Civil Liberties Union – Privatized Immigration Detention
https://www.aclu.org/issues/immigrants-rights/immigrants-rights-and-detention/privatized-immigration-detentionThe Guardian – Biden Extended Contracts to Private Immigration Jails Despite Reports of ‘Horrific’ Conditions
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/dec/06/biden-immigration-detention-centers-inhumane-conditionsThe Guardian – Revealed: Biden Lays Groundwork to Expand Immigration Jails as Trump Readies for Office
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/dec/05/biden-immigration-jails-trump-mass-deportation-planFinancial Times – Prison Stocks Slumped Under Trump. Why Are They Soaring Now?
https://www.ft.com/content/a8832793-8644-415b-9cb0-2fe67a35feceNPR – ‘Barbaric and Negligent’: Government Inspectors Describe ICE Detention Conditions
https://www.npr.org/2023/08/16/1190767610/ice-detention-immigration-government-inspectors-barbaric-negligent-conditionsAmerican Immigration Council – The Cost of Mass Deportation in the U.S.
https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/mass-deportationPBS – How the U.S. Immigration System Became a Tool for Mass Incarceration
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/how-us-immigration-system-became-tool-mass-incarcerationSouthern Poverty Law Center – U.S. Immigrant Detention Centers Violate Human Rights
https://www.splcenter.org/news/2023/11/15/us-immigrant-detention-centers-violate-human-rightsThe Atlantic – ICE’s Family Separation Policies and the Lasting Trauma They Inflict
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2023/07/ice-family-separation-immigration-trauma/675352/
The New York Times – U.S. Immigration Detention Centers Are Expanding Despite Pledges to Close Them
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/21/us/politics/immigration-detention-expansion.html
