Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) compared the crisis at the southern border to the Holocaust, blasting the Trump administration for "running concentration camps" and calling the administration a "fascist presidency."
"They are concentration campus," she said during an Instagram live feed.
"I want to talk to the people that are concerned enough with humanity to say that 'never again' means something, and the fact that concentration are now an institutionalized practice in the home of the free is extraordinarily disturbing," she continued.
Ocasio-Cortez falsely claims Trump is operating concentration camps, compares the situation to the Holocaust: 'The U.S. is running concentration camps on our southern border and that is exactly what they are. … ‘Never Again’ means something ... we need to do something about it" pic.twitter.com/F2MmZ8y2dT
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) June 18, 2019
The phrase "never again" invokes the connection to the Nazi genocide of Jewish people and other ethnic minorities in Europe. However, the phrase has been co-opted in the recent past to serve as a universal reference to tragedy.
Recent reports indicate that the situation at the border is getting worse due to overcrowding, and National Review reported that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) plans to hold a vote next week on $4.5 billion in funding to combat the humanitarian crisis.
Ocasio-Cortez also referenced a debunked news story about migrant children being sent to a former Japanese internment camp. The fort served as an internment camp for Japanese citizens during World War II, but it has served a large number of other functions over the course of its existence. The Obama Administration also sent unaccompanied minors to the fort in 2014 due to a similar issue of overcrowding.
"A presidency that creates concentration camps is fascist," Ocasio-Cortez added.