AOC says ICE detention centers are 'exactly' like concentration camps

Democratic socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) says Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers housing illegal immigrants at the U.S.-Mexico border are "exactly" like concentration camps.

What are the details?

The freshman congresswoman made the claim during an Instagram livestream video rant Monday night, where she announced, "The United States is running concentration camps on our southern border, and that is exactly what they are. They are concentration camps."

Ocasio-Cortez called on "people that are concerned enough with humanity to say...that 'never again' means something." The Daily Mail noted that "the phrase 'never again' has strong ties to the aftermath of the Holocaust and some conservatives accused Ocasio-Cortez of 'trivializing' the term by applying it to Trump's policy."

The New York Democrat went on to say, "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."

Ocasio-Cortez used her platform to further assert, "This is a crisis on if America will remain America in its actual principles and values, or if we are losing to an authoritarian and fascist presidency."

"I don't use those words lightly," she added. "I don't use those words to just throw bombs. 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."

Anything else?

The congresswoman responded to backlash over her comments on Twitter to make her case, saying, "for the shrieking Republicans who don't know the difference: concentration camps are not the same as death camps."

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) was one of the GOP lawmakers who took offense, telling Ocasio-Cortez to "do us all a favor and spend just a few minutes learning some actual history. 6 million Jews were exterminated in the Holocaust. You demean their memory and disgrace yourself with comments like this."

Undeterred, Ocasio-Cortez further defended her remarks, and stood by her comparison.