Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is in hot water for referring to the detention of immigrants at the border as “concentration camps.”
What We Know:
- The term is mostly associated with Nazi death camps during the Holocaust. “The United States is running concentration camps on our southern border, and that is exactly what they are — they are concentration camps,” Ocasio-Cortez said to her Instagram live audience on Monday evening.
- She stood by her comments Tuesday and claimed that Republicans did not understand the role of concentration camps. Instead of apologizing, AOC doubled down as Republicans criticized her. “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 said in a tweet.
- Rep. Liz Cheney, the third-ranking House Republican, accused Ocasio-Cortez of disrespecting the legacy of Jewish people killed during the Holocaust with her comments and urged her to educate herself on the subject. “Please @AOC do us all a favor and spend just a few minutes learning some actual history,” Cheney tweeted.
- Ocasio-Cortez is not alone when it comes to being a target for Republicans. Fellow freshman Democrats, Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib have faced accusations of anti-Semitism for comments they made about Israel.
Some Democrats are coming out in support of AOC and noting the living conditions of these detention facilities. “Call it a concentration camp or call it something else. What’s happening on our southern border is a moral stain on the U.S. Cruelty as policy means these children are in impossible and inhumane situations,” tweeted Sen. Brian Schatz.
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
