US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has apparently once again managed to stir things up on social media by arguing that US immigration authorities are running “concentration camps” on the country's southern border.
The congresswoman argued on Twitter that the migrants “are being brutalised with dehumanising conditions and dying” in these camps established by the Trump administration, and that it's “not a hyperbole”.
This administration has established concentration camps on the southern border of the United States for immigrants, where they are being brutalized with dehumanizing conditions and dying.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) 18 июня 2019 г.
This is not hyperbole. It is the conclusion of expert analysis ⬇️https://t.co/2dWHxb7UuL
In a follow-up tweet, Ocasio-Cortez apparently addressed the ensuing criticism from the “shrieking Republicans”, insisting that “concentration camps” are not the same as “death camps”, and claiming that experts consider the former to be “the mass detention of civilians without trial”.
And for the shrieking Republicans who don’t know the difference: concentration camps are not the same as death camps.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) 18 июня 2019 г.
Concentration camps are considered by experts as “the mass detention of civilians without trial.”
And that’s exactly what this administration is doing.
“And that’s exactly what this administration is doing”, Ocasio-Cortez surmised.
In response, many social media users offered a different take on the immigration officials' actions.
I guess that’s where you end up when you break into somewhere. Seems better than prison which is where our citizens go if they break into a place.
— SpicyMansauce (@MansauceM) 18 июня 2019 г.
Having worked at Abu Ghraib prison after the scandal there, I can tell you that the conditions for those detained at our southern border is paradise in comparison. You have ZERO experience or knowledge about what you're saying. How about you HELP the problem instead of CRITICIZE?
— Montgomery Granger (@mjgranger1) 18 июня 2019 г.
Who told them to come here? Great question you won't answer.
— Mr. Richard T.Mindler (@rmindler) 18 июня 2019 г.
I used to be a Trump supporter. But when I heard that him and Mike Pence were personally going INTO Mexico and dragging these poor people, kicking and screaming across the border, and throwing them into Nazi-style concentration camps, that was the final straw!! 😡
— An Adolescent Man (@olescentman) 18 июня 2019 г.
Some also took a dim view of Ocasio-Cortez using the definition “concentration camps”.
When you call them “concentration camps” it shows you:
— derek schwartz (@derek_mafs) 18 июня 2019 г.
1. Have no idea what people endured in actual concentration camps
2. You’re a fear-mongering liar who uses extremes like this and “the world’s ending in 12 years” to mislead your followers who are less informed than you.
The first concentration camps in history where the occupants voluntarily checked in and refuse to return home. What silliness.
— JackMoz (@JMozComms) 18 июня 2019 г.
As a political stunt for voters
— Cole (@PrototypeCole) 18 июня 2019 г.
According to the Washington Examiner, Ocasio-Cortez also used a reference to the Holocaust when exploring the subject of the immigration camps in an Instagram video, by saying that she wants to talk to the people that are concerned enough with humanity that 'Never Again' means something."
However, the Holocaust museum in Washington DC cautioned against using “careless Holocaust analogies”, telling the media outlet that such analogies “may demonise, demean, and intimidate their targets”.
Art Del Cueto, vice president of the National Border Patrol Council, also criticised Ocasio-Cortez for her remarks, stating that “it's disgusting to compare concentration camps to what the men and women are doing here protecting our country”, as quoted by Fox.
"It is definitely a slap in the face to a lot of those people who had family members who actually went through concentration camps”, he added, offering to give Ocasio-Cortez a tour of a border facility to alleviate her concerns about the treatment of migrants.
