AOC's Invocation of The Holocaust Re: Trump Admin's Treatment of Undocumented Migrants Is Unhelpful

There's no question the Trump Administration's treatment of undocumented migrants on the southern border has been cruel resulting in the deaths of six children in the custody of the U.S. Border Patrol.


But Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's likening the situation to the Holocaust simply isn't helpful. AOC took to Instagram last night and stated:


​The United States is running concentration camps on our southern border and that is exactly what they are – they are concentration camps – and if that doesn’t bother you.


​I want to talk to the people that are concerned enough with humanity to say that we should not — that ‘Never Again’ means something.


​​I don’t use those words lightly. I don’t use those words to just throw bombs. I use the word because that’s what an administration that creates concentration camps is.​ A presidency that creates concentration camps is fascist and it’s very difficult to say that.


I don't think it's difficult for her to say that at all. And now that's she said this I find it hard to take AOC's invocation of The Holocaust seriously when she is quick to defend anti-Semites like fellow freshman Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar and U.K. Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn who create the kind of conditions where anti-Semitism is allowed to metastasize.


When reached for comment, the U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. referred to an essay written by Holocaust historian Edna Friedberg:


Careless Holocaust analogies may demonize, demean, and intimidate their targets. But there is a cost for all of us because they distract from the real issues challenging our society, because they shut down productive, thoughtful discourse. At a time when our country needs dialogue more than ever, it is especially dangerous to exploit the memory of the Holocaust as a rhetorical cudgel. We owe the survivors more than that. And we owe ourselves more than that.


Not only do AOC's comments distract from the matter at hand and shut down productive, thoughtful discourse, but they ensure that Trump's cruel border policies remain in place. Therefore AOC is part of the problem, not part of the solution.