Ocasio-Cortez Claims She Wasn’t Comparing Detention Centers to Nazi Camps

Says concentration camps 'were also utilized all over the world, including in the United States'

In an interview with CNN, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) defended her recent "concentration camp" comments, and insisted she never intended to compare U.S. illegal immigrant detention centers to Nazi death camps.

"There is a very clear academic consensus on what constitutes a concentration camp, and that is the mass detention of a community of people without a trial or due process," argued Ocasio-Cortez.

"I think it's pretty universally noncontroversial to say that the administration is doing exactly that and meets the academic requirement," she said.

"You're not comparing this to what happened in World War II?" asked CNN reporter Manu Raju.

"No, no," Ocasio Cortez responded. "While concentration camps were employed during that time, they were also utilized all over the world, including in the United States with the Japanese internment."

In her initial comments, Ocasio Cortez also said, "I want to talk to the people that are concerned enough with humanity to say that ‘never again' means something."

"Never Again" is typically a slogan referring specifically to the Holocaust.

Ocasio-Cortez's refrain taken up by liberal commentators, such as CNN's Angela Rye, who claimed that "death camps" were "where we are going if our consciences are not quickly pierced." CNN's Don Lemon likewise claimed that Trump could one day become a Hitler-like figure, arguing "It starts with little lies. It starts with little lies that become bigger lies and people who became brainwashed."