Ocasio-Cortez Deflects on 'Concentration Camps,' Says Republican Should Apologize
New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has refused to apologize for comments she made on Instagram Live on Monday, comparing migrant detention centers to concentration camps.
After Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy demanded the freshman congresswoman apologize, Ocasio-Cortez fired back and demanded McCarthy should apologize for defending the conditions in U.S. detention centers.
During a press conference on Thursday, McCarthy said Ocasio-Cortez should apologize to U.S. officials for her comments, which he says showed a lack of understanding about concentration camps.
“She does not understand history,” McCarthy said. “She does not understand what is going on at the border at the same time.”
“But there is no comparison. And to actually say that is really embarrassing.”
“To take something that happened in history, where millions of Jews had died, and equate it to somewhere that’s happening on the border, she owes this nation an apology,” he added.
When a Capitol Hill reporter asked Ocasio-Cortez her thoughts, the Democratic congresswoman suggested McCarthy should apologize instead.
“Well, I think he should apologize for the deliberate conflation and attack on these terms,” she said.
“I think he should apologize for the conditions that he’s supporting on the border.”
Ocasio-Cortez continued her tirade, suggesting McCarthy should “apologize to the children that have been separated from their parents” and “for his support for widespread human rights abuses.”
“And until he stops supporting the absolute dehumanizing conditions on our border, I will not apologize for holding him to account for it,” she concluded.
The bitter feud comes after Ocasio-Cortez faced widespread criticism online for her comments.
When the news hit global headlines, Polish Member of Parliament Dominik Tarczyński invited Ocasio-Cortez to Poland to visit Auschwitz, the former Nazi concentration camp.
“I write to you out of distress in having learned of your recent statements regarding concentration camps,” Tarczyński wrote in a letter published to Twitter.
With this letter, I am formally inviting @AOC to come to Poland,where Adolf Hitler set up the worst chain of concentration camps the world has ever seen, so that she may see that scoring political points with enflamed rhetoric is unacceptable in our contemporary Western societies pic.twitter.com/ivOTfmiCfo
— TARCZYŃSKI Dominik (@D_Tarczynski) June 20, 2019
“I wish to extend the olive branch of education to you, Congresswoman, and would be delighted if you would accept my offer to come to Poland and study the concentration camps here for real, so that you can see first hand how different it is from your immigration processing centers on the U.S. border.”
“With this letter, I am formally inviting AOC to come to Poland, where Adolf Hitler set up the worst chain of concentration camps the world has ever seen, so that she may see that scoring political points with enflamed rhetoric is unacceptable in our contemporary Western societies,” he captioned his post.
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