The Jewish Communities Relations Council (JCRC), a nonpartisan group, sent a letter to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) after she compared migrant detention centers to concentration camps, urging her to avoid such associations in the future.
“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 JCRC wrote Tuesday.
“As concerned as we are about the conditions experienced by migrants seeking asylum in the United States … the regrettable use of Holocaust terminology to describe these contemporary concerns diminishes the evil intent of the Nazis to eradicate the Jewish people.”
{mosads}The JCRC went on to offer its services to help connect Ocasio-Cortez with a local Holocaust museum or Holocaust survivors or to arrange a visit to a concentration camp “in the hopes of better understanding the horrors of the Holocaust.”
“Until that time, we urge you to refrain from using terminology evocative of the Holocaust to voice concerns about contemporary political issues,” the JCRC wrote.
Ocasio-Cortez had sparked a firestorm with her remarks about the Trump administration’s migrant detention facilities.
“The U.S. is running concentration camps on our southern border, and that is exactly what they are,” Ocasio-Cortez said during an Instagram Live appearance on Monday night.
“If that doesn’t bother you … I want to talk to the people that are concerned enough with humanity to say that ‘never again’ means something.”
Republicans quickly condemned the remarks, saying the comparison was inappropriate.
“Please @AOC do us all a favor and spend just a few minutes learning some actual history. 6 million Jews were exterminated in the Holocaust,” tweeted Rep. Liz Cheney (Wyo.), the third-ranking House Republican.
Some Democrats came to Ocasio-Cortez’s defense, saying Republican outrage was manufactured to hit the progressive firebrand.