Resisting President Donald Trump in Congress is like fighting Nazis in Northern Africa during World War II, according to Rep. Stephen Lynch (D., Mass.).

"I’m proud of my Democratic colleagues who are willing to stand up to [Trump’s] thuggery," Lynch said Thursday during a House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing. "You know, my dad served in the Second World War. He fought the Nazis in Northern Africa. He fought the Nazis on the Italian Peninsula. And I think he’s looking down right now, and he’s happy that I’m fighting today’s Nazis. He’s proud of that. We all should be."

Lynch, the top Democrat on the committee, shouted those comments during his opening statement at the top of the hearing, which centered on sanctuary laws. Democratic Govs. Tim Walz (Minn.), Kathy Hochul (N.Y.), and J.B. Pritzker (Ill.) testified in defense of those policies.

Republicans accused the governors of protecting illegal immigrants and helping them dodge ICE detainers. They named numerous illegal aliens who were arrested for violent crimes in sanctuary states.

Democrats spent their time attacking ICE and the Trump administration. Lynch, for example, accused the administration of employing a "militarization playbook nationwide" by sending in the National Guard to help quell the violent anti-ICE riots in Los Angeles.

"Californians are now forced to navigate an active military zone in their midst as they try to go to work or decide if it's safe to send their kids to school," Lynch said. 

Rep. James Comer (Ky.), the Republican chairman of the committee, called for the governors to testify in April. "The governors of these states must explain why they are prioritizing the protection of criminal illegal aliens over the safety of U.S. citizens, and they must be held accountable," he wrote.