The Jewish Community Relations Council of New York strongly condemned Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., for comparing U.S. immigration policies to Holocaust concentration camps in a letter they sent to her Tuesday.
The New York Democrat accused U.S. immigration officials of running “concentration camps” on the U.S. southern border in an Instagram video Monday night. Ocasio-Cortez made a call to action to “the people that are concerned enough with humanity that ‘Never Again’ means something,” referencing the phrase used about the Nazi genocide.
“We are deeply disturbed by the language used in your recent Instagram live video which seeks to equate the detention centers on America’s southern border with Nazi-era Concentration Camps,” the council wrote.
“The terms ‘Concentration Camp’ and ‘Never Again’ are synonymous with and evocative of the atrocities committed by Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany, in which 6 million European Jews were systematically denied civil and human rights due to their race and ultimately murdered in a state-sponsored genocide,” the letter said.
We urge @AOC to refrain from using terminology evocative of the Holocaust tonvoice concerns about contemporary political issues, as per our letter below. pic.twitter.com/276hH8jRWn
— JCRC of New York (@JCRCNY) June 18, 2019
Ocasio-Cortez defended her choice of words on Tuesday morning.
“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,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
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
In a later tweet, Ocasio-Cortez appeared to back off her prior comments, saying, “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,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted.
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
