- Freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez sparked a fierce debate when she compared detention centres for migrant children to concentration camps.
- A new INSIDER poll found that just 25% of Americans – but almost half of likely Democratic primary voters – agree with her comparison.
- 25.6% of Americans and 44% of Democratic primary voters agreed with the statement: “I think given the very definition of the term and the awful conditions at the sites, it’s entirely appropriate to describe the facilities as concentration camps.”
- Recent reports from The New York Times and the Associated Press documented what many perceived to be unsanitary and inhumane conditions for children housed at the Clint Border Patrol Station in Texas.
- Despite the criticism of her remarks, some Holocaust historians told Esquire Magazine that her comparison is apt, even though children aren’t being forced to work or put in gas chambers in America’s migrant detention facilities.
- “We have what I would call a concentration camp system,” author and historian Andrea Pitzer told Esquire. “And the definition of that in my book is, mass detention of civilians without trial.”
Freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez sparked a fierce debate when she compared detention centres for migrant children to concentration camps, and a new INSIDER poll found that just 25% of Americans agree with her comparison. Her statement was more popular among likely Democratic voters.
Ocasio-Cortez made the comments after five minors died in Customs and Border Protection (CBP) custody in the last seven months months, and recent reports from The New York Times and the Associated Press documented unsanitary and inhumane conditions for children housed at the Clint Border Patrol Station in Texas.
Read the article by Grace Panetta, Walt Hickey in Business Insider Australia.