Rep. Henry Cuellar (D., Texas) ripped Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's (D., N.Y.) claims that the Trump administration is running "concentration camps" at the southern border during an appearance on CNN.
CNN host Brooke Baldwin asked Cuellar about Rep. Ocasio-Cortez's comments on the border crisis. The New York representative had compared the detention centers to concentration camps and invoked the phrase "never again," a direct reference to the Holocaust.
Cuellar represents Texas's 28th Congressional District, which takes up a portion of the U.S.-Mexico border. He criticized the comparison to the Holocaust, saying that the comments are inaccurate.
"Again, with all due respect to her, she has a different usage of words, maybe a different perception," he said. "I live on the border, I've been to those detention centers, I've been to those shelters as you know. If they're adults, they're in detention centers, but if they're children, they are put in shelters that are run by non-profits."
"I would not use the terms that she used and imply anything else after that," he concluded.
Several members of the media have spoken out defending Ocasio-Cortez's comparison. CNN host Brian Stelter insisted that MSNBC fans "knew exactly what Ocasio-Cortez meant" by her comments, bemoaning that the controversy was indicative of "our American divide in action."