New York lawmaker Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D) is seemingly denying that she explicitly compared migrant detention centers to the Holocaust in a series of defensive tweets and retweets posted Tuesday afternoon.
In a live stream posted Monday evening, Ocasio-Cortez accused the Trump administration of holding migrant families in the equivalent of “concentration camps” and invoked the well-known Holocaust remembrance phrase “Never Again.”
“That is exactly what they are. They are concentration camps,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “The fact that concentrations camps are now an institutionalized practice in the Home of the Free is extraordinarily disturbing and we need to do something about it.”
She said she wanted to talk to people who were “concerned enough with humanity to say that ‘never again’ means something,” adding that Trump is implementing “fascist” policies.
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“I don’t use those words to just throw bombs,” she said. “I use that word because that is what an administration that creates concentration camps is. A presidency that creates concentration camps is fascist, and it’s very difficult to say that.”
Following the backlash, Ocasio-Cortez attempted to lecture Republicans who “don’t know the difference” between concentration camps and death camps.
“Concentration camps are considered by experts as ‘the mass detention of civilians without trial,’” she tweeted. “And that’s exactly what this administration is doing.”
This administration has established concentration camps on the southern border of the United States for immigrants, where they are being brutalized with dehumanizing conditions and dying.
This is not hyperbole. It is the conclusion of expert analysis ⬇️https://t.co/2dWHxb7UuL
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) June 18, 2019
And for the shrieking Republicans who don’t know the difference: concentration camps are not the same as death camps.
Concentration camps are considered by experts as “the mass detention of civilians without trial.”
And that’s exactly what this administration is doing.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) June 18, 2019
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Detention facilities are a far cry from both concentration camps and certainly from death camps. Detention facilities serve as a temporary holding place for illegal migrants – not U.S. citizens or civilians – while their claims and hearings are being processed. Additionally, detention centers provide another layer of security for the American people.
According to a report last week, ICE had to quarantine 4,200 migrant detainees for exposure to mumps, 800 for exposure to chicken pox, and 100 were quarantined for exposure to both.
“The quarantine stretches across many of the 39 immigrant detention centers, where many await their deportation hearings,” Breitbart News reported.
Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) questioned Ocasio-Cortez’s severe assessment and encouraged her to learn some “actual history.”
“Please @AOC do us all a favor and spend just a few minutes learning some actual history,” she tweeted. “6 million Jews were exterminated in the Holocaust. You demean their memory and disgrace yourself with comments like this”:
Please @AOC do us all a favor and spend just a few minutes learning some actual history. 6 million Jews were exterminated in the Holocaust. You demean their memory and disgrace yourself with comments like this. https://t.co/NX5KPPb2Hl
— Liz Cheney (@Liz_Cheney) June 18, 2019
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Ocasio-Cortez responded in a tweet, writing in part, “What do YOU call building mass camps of people being detained without a trial? How would you dress up DHS’s mass separation of thousands children at the border from their parents?”
Hey Rep. Cheney, since you’re so eager to “educate me,” I’m curious:
What do YOU call building mass camps of people being detained without a trial?
How would you dress up DHS’s mass separation of thousands children at the border from their parents? https://t.co/OOfrrfa1Ew
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) June 18, 2019
The New York lawmaker also retweeted a defense of her concentration camp comparison and use of veiled Holocaust language.
Jew here. @AOC’s point is exactly why we say “Never forget.” The Holocaust did not begin with the murder of 6 million Jews. It began with the same dehumanization, deportation, and internment we see today. You, sickeningly, invoke the Holocaust to minimize their suffering. Shame.
— Bess Kalb (@bessbell) June 18, 2019
Story cited here.
