Press Release: 2019-06-24

Massachusetts Democrats remain silent on Ocasio-Cortez’s false “concentration camps” rhetoric

The Massachusetts Republican Jewish Committee condemns in the strongest possible terms recent public comments made by Democratic New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who falsely and maliciously accused our government of maintaining “concentration camps,” in reference to the border processing centers set up to accommodate crowds of illegal aliens crossing our southern border.

In case you missed it, Representative Ocasio-Cortez declared in a recent video she posted to social media, “the United States is running concentration camps on our southern border.”

That Ocasio-Cortez could so twist the very definition of a concentration camp is abhorrent, and trivializes the plight of the tens of millions of innocent victims who suffered and died in communist, fascist, and Nazi concentration camps.

The fact she co-opted the historic Holocaust euphemism, “Never Again,” in slandering United States policy is egregious enough to call into question her moral fitness to continue serving in Congress.

The term “concentration camps” has become synonymous with “death camps” and “extermination camps,” referring to those set up by Nazis in order to carry out the genocide of the Jewish people during the Holocaust.

It is a moral imperative that the House Democratic leadership take immediate steps to censure Representative Ocasio-Cortez.

Sadly, when asked directly about Ocasio-Cortez’s rhetoric, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi refused to condemn the New York representative’s actions.

“These members of Congress represent their districts and their point of view,” Pelosi told reporters earlier this week. “And they take responsibility for the statements that they make.

“Understand that the Republicans have no interest in holding the President accountable for his words, they (Republicans) will misrepresent anything that you say.”

It is disheartening to see that our all-Democratic Massachusetts Congressional delegation appears to remain obtuse on the issue as well. 

We nevertheless call upon the Massachusetts Democrats representing us in Congress to publicly and adamantly condemn Representative Ocasio-Cortez. 

Further silence by our delegation can only be viewed as an assent to her shameful and ignorant comments.

Marty Lamb and Tom Mountain
Vice chairmen, Massachusetts Republican Jewish Committee