Ocasio-Cortez compares border crisis to the Holocaust, says 'fascist' Trump is running 'concentration camps'
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has slammed President Donald Trump's immigration policy saying that his administration is operating "concentration camps on our southern border."
The New York Democratic Representative streamed a live Q&A with her Instagram followers on Monday, where she slammed the government on its crackdown on asylum seekers and migrants.
AOC, during the live-stream, said: "That is exactly what they are. They are concentration camps. I want to talk to the people that are concerned enough with humanity to say that 'never again' means something."
The phrase "never again" has strong links to the Holocaust aftermatch and some conservatives have accused AOC of "trivializing" the term by applying it to Trump's policy.
Ocasio-Cortez, the youngest Congresswoman in the country's history, however, has maintained that the Democrats are "losing to an authoritarian and fascist presidency" and insisted that she does not "use those words lightly."
"I don't use those words to just throw bombs," she continued. "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. The fact that concentration camps are now an institutionalized practice in the home of the free is extraordinarily disturbing and we need to do something about it."
The Congresswoman had faced heavy criticism after she used the Holocaust analogy in November to point that applying for refugee status should not in itself be considered a crime.
The 29-year-old had taken to Twitter to write: "Asking to be considered a refugee and applying for status isn't a crime. It wasn't for Jewish families fleeing Germany. It wasn't for targeted families fleeing Rwanda. It wasn't for communities fleeing war-torn Syria. And it isn't for those fleeing violence in Central America."
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), as of early June this year, was detaining over 52,500 immigrants every day in a network of more than 200 detention centers, according to NBC.
At least 24 immigrants have died in ICE custody under the Trump administration, while four died soon after being released, according to the outlet.
The number does not include the deaths in the custody of other federal agencies, which also includes five children.
AOC's latest statement comes after President Trump threatened to remove millions of people living across the country illegally on the eve of announcing his re-election bid formally.
Trump, in his tweet on Monday night, said that the ICE would "begin the process of removing the millions of illegal aliens who have illicitly found their way into the United States" from next week. "They will be removed as fast as they come in," he wrote.