'I was in two American concentration camps': George Takei talks about time at Japanese internment camp aged 5 and says outrage at AOC's Mexico border comments should be directed at Trump admin

  • George Takei, 82, said on Tuesday: 'I know what concentration camps are'
  • Actor tweeted that he was 'inside two of them, in America' and they still exist 
  • Takei has previously spoken about being in an internment with his parents, age 5
  • But he said thankfully he wasn't separated from them during World War II
  • It was after Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez doubled down on her charge that President Donald Trump created 'concentration camps' on U.S.-Mexico border 
  • AOC faced backlash from Republican politicians for the bold online posts 
  • Takei said Thursday: 'It is sad that there is so much outrage vented toward' her
  • He said AOC would not have to be 'speaking out on behalf of others' if it wasn't for Trump's admin and the zero tolerance policy that separated children in 2018  

George Takei on Thursday rushed to the defense of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez once again, just two days after saying that he has been inside two concentration camps in the US.

'I know what concentration camps are. I was inside two of them, in America. And yes, we are operating such camps again,' the American actor tweeted Tuesday.

It was in in response to the New York Congresswoman earlier this week charging that President Donald Trump had created 'concentration camps' on the U.S.-Mexico border with his zero tolerance policy.

In reference to an Esquire article Ocasio-Cortez tweeted: 'This administration has established concentration camps on the southern border of the United States for immigrants, where they are being brutalized with dehumanizing conditions and dying.

'This is not hyperbole. It is the conclusion of expert analysis.'

George Takei said on Tuesday: 'I know what concentration camps are. I was inside two of them, in America'
Pictured as a young boy. Takei has previously spoken about being in an internment with his parents during World War II when he was 5 years old

George Takei said on Tuesday: 'I know what concentration camps are. I was inside two of them, in America'. He's pictured right as a young boy and left in September 2018. Takei has previously spoken about being in an internment with his parents during World War II aged 5

Takei- tweeted to his 2.9 million followers: 'And yes, we are operating such camps again'

Takei- tweeted to his 2.9 million followers: 'And yes, we are operating such camps again'

Takei said thankfully he wasn't separated from his mother and father during World War II

Takei said thankfully he wasn't separated from his mother and father during World War II

Los Angeles-born Takei was sent to a Japanese-American internment camp during World War II.

He previously opened up about his time there when he wrote an op-ed for Foreign Policy magazine last June.

The Star Trek actor divulged details about being 5 years old in the 1940s and shared that he wasn't fully aware of what was going on because at that time children were separated from their parents.

'At least during the internment, my parents were able to place themselves between the horror of what we were facing and my own childish understanding of our circumstances,' he explained in the article. 

Takei - who is married to actor-and-producer Brad Takei - stood up for AOC again on Thursday as he mentioned how she was the target and anger following her social media post.

The 82-year-old also showed sympathy for Taylor Swift who has faced a backlash for asking people to sign her Equality Act for LGBTQ Americans on Change.org. It's something presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren obliged to.

On Thursday Takei added: 'It is sad that there is so much outrage vented toward [Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez] and [Taylor Swift] for speaking out on behalf of others, when that same energy and passion could be directed at those who made it necessary to speak out in the first place. Get your priorities right, folks.'

It was in in response to US Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez earlier this week charging that President Donald Trump had created 'concentration camps' on the U.S.-Mexico border with his zero tolerance policy

It was in in response to US Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez earlier this week charging that President Donald Trump had created 'concentration camps' on the U.S.-Mexico border with his zero tolerance policy

Ocasio-Cortez tweeted: 'This administration has established concentration camps on the southern border of the United States for immigrants, where they are being brutalized'

Ocasio-Cortez tweeted: 'This administration has established concentration camps on the southern border of the United States for immigrants, where they are being brutalized'

Takei - who is married to actor-and-producer Brad Takei - stood up for AOC again on Thursday as he mentioned how she was the target and anger following her social media post

Takei - who is married to actor-and-producer Brad Takei - stood up for AOC again on Thursday as he mentioned how she was the target and anger following her social media post

George Takei on Thursday rushed to the defense of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Taylor Swift for her LGBTQ Equality campaign

George Takei on Thursday rushed to the defense of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Taylor Swift for her LGBTQ Equality campaign

AOC defied critics Wednesday saying she would 'never apologize' for accusing Donald Trump of building 'concentration camps' at the border despite critics accusing her of trivializing the Holocaust.

The firebrand Democrat said she was 'calling these camps' what they are after Kevin McCarthy, the Republican House minority leader, became the latest to tell her she should withdraw the term.   

Reacting to his demand, she instead tweeted: 'DHS ripped 1000s of children from their parents & put them in cages w inhumane conditions. 

'They call their cells "dog pounds" & "freezers." I will never apologize for calling these camps what they are. If that makes you uncomfortable, fight the camps - not the nomenclature.'

And she also received political cover from the most senior Democrat as Nancy Pelosi accused Republicans of trying to 'exploit' and 'misrepresent' her words.

Asked by DailyMail.com at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast Wednesday whether she had spoken to Ocasio-Cortez about the Holocaust controversy, she said: 'I’m not up to date with her most recent remarks.

'I saw them on the news, but I haven’t spoken to her about that.

'Understand that while Republicans have no interest in holding the president accountable for his words, they will misrepresent anything that you say, just if you have one word in a sentence they can exploit.'

Speaker Nancy Pelosi warned her party Republicans would exploit their words

Speaker Nancy Pelosi warned her party Republicans would exploit their words 

McCarthy had used his weekly press conference as minority leader to tell Ocasio-Cortez to apologize 'not only to the nation but to the world.'

'She does not understand what is going on at the border at the same time. There is no comparison. To actually say that is embarrassing,' he said.

'To take somewhere in history where millions of Jews died, and equate that to somewhere that's happening on the border, she owes this nation an apology.' 

Ocasio-Cortez continued to argue President Trump has built concentration camps on the southern border after her war of words with Republicans resulted in them accusing the Democrat from New York of demeaning victims of the Holocaust.

'The US ran concentration camps before, when we rounded up Japanese people during WWII. It is such a shameful history that we largely ignore it. These camps occur throughout history. Many refuse to learn from that shame, but here we are today. We have an obligation to end them,' Ocasio-Cortez tweeted on Wednesday morning, less than 24 hours after she set off a fire storm with Republicans with her original accusation.

The liberal Democrat also argued the Department of Homeland Security should not be funded if the camps were kept in existence. Lawmakers are in the appropriations process right now, setting budgets for next year for the federal agencies.

'Not one dime should go to DHS for building these camps as they detain children & families. Congressional appropriations season is now. That means it’s $ time - we‘re voting to fund federal government programs. We should not fund the caging of kids & families. Pretty simple,' she wrote.  

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is in a war of words with Republicans after she accused President Trump of building 'concentration camps' at the border during an Instagram live video

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is in a war of words with Republicans after she accused President Trump of building 'concentration camps' at the border during an Instagram live video

Children and workers are seen at a tent encampment recently built near the Tornillo Port of Entry on June 19, 2018 in Tornillo, Texas

Children and workers are seen at a tent encampment recently built near the Tornillo Port of Entry on June 19, 2018 in Tornillo, Texas

The lawmaker, who's a star on social media, originally discussed the matter Monday in an Instagram live, where she claimed the administration is building 'concentration camps' on the southern border to detain illegal immigrants. 

'The United States is running concentration camps on our southern border, and that is exactly what they are. They are concentration camps,' she said.

'This is a crisis on if American will remain America … Or if we are losing to an authoritarian and fascist presidency,' Ocasio-Cortez said in reference to President Trump. 

'I don't use those words lightly. 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.'

Prominent Republicans took to their own social media accounts to attack back.

'Please @AOC 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,' tweeted GOP Rep. Liz Cheney, a member of the House leadership. 

'People like @AOC -- who are not lifting a finger to solve the problem -- comparing the men and women serving our country to concentration camp guards do the Congress and country a great disservice,' charged Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham.

But Ocasio-Cortez defended herself, arguing concentration camps were different from Nazi death camps or extermination camps, where more than 3 million were estimated to have been killed during World War II. 

'And for the shrieking Republicans who don't know the difference:  And that's exactly what this administration is doing,' she wrote on Twitter. 

'Concentration camps are considered by experts as "the mass detention of civilians without trial." And that’s exactly what this administration is doing.'

WHO'S RIGHT ABOUT CONCENTRATION CAMPS?

Republicans and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are at war over whether calling facilities being built to house new arrivals at the Mexican border 'concentration camps' is demeaning the victims of the Holocaust.

The term predates the Holocaust by decades, first creeping into the English language from the 'reconcentrados' set up by Spanish troops in Cuba in the late 1890s to put rural civilians on the borders of towns.

But it was British use of concentration camps in the Boer War of 1899 to 1902 in what is now South Africa which made the term widely used. 

The idea was to put Boer civilians in camps to stop them supplying guerrillas fighting British colonial troops. 

The reality was that thousands died of disease and malnutrition and Britain's opposition leader accused the government of a policy of exterminating the Boers. 

German colonial troops in modern Namibia adopted the camps, and their name, before World War One as part of a genocide campaign against rebels.

The rise of Hitler saw the Nazis establish concentration camps for the people they rounded up. The first was Dachau, in March 1933, for Communists and other enemies. Jews quickly became the official enemy.

The number of camps exploded in Germany and then from 1939 the regime spread them across the countries they invaded.

Prisoners lived in appalling conditions, were used as slave labor, starved, subject to disease and used as human guinea pigs.

The names were to enter infamy: Buchenwald, Bergen-Belsen, and many others. 

In 1942, the SS set up a network of extermination camps - Vernichtungslager - across Nazi-held territory. They were built beside existing concentration camps with new arrivals sent to one or the other; Auschwitz was to become the most infamous.   

So technically, Ocasio-Cortez is right that concentration camp does not mean the same as the most notorious of the extermination camps but it is a fine distinction - the term concentration camp has become inextricably linked with the Holocaust and even before then was linked to accusations of extermination policies.

She also retweeted a post from author and Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg, who wrote: 'Ok, Internet. Time to learn the difference between concentration camps and death ('extermination') camps. Germany started with concentration camps in 1933. Death camps started in 1941. Never again is now.' 

Ocasio-Cortez came under fire from conservatives in November after she used the Holocaust analogy to point out that applying for refugee status should not in itself be considered a crime. 

'Asking to be considered a refugee and applying for status isn't a crime,' the 29-year-old posted on Twitter. 'It wasn't for Jewish families fleeing Germany. It wasn't for targeted families fleeing Rwanda. It wasn't for communities fleeing war-torn Syria. And it isn't for those fleeing violence in Central America.'

According to NBC, as of early June, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was detaining more than 52,500 immigrants every day in a network of more than 200 detention centers.

The outlets reports that 24 immigrants have died in ICE custody during the Trump administration, while at least four others died shortly after being released. 

That number also does not include those, including five children, who died in the custody of other federal agencies. 

Ocasio-Cortez' latest statement came as President Trump threatened to remove millions of people living in the country illegally on the eve of formally announcing his re-election bid.

In a pair of tweets Monday night, Trump said that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement would next week 'begin the process of removing the millions of illegal aliens who have illicitly found their way into the United States.'

'They will be removed as fast as they come in,' he wrote.

An administration official said the effort would focus on the more than 1 million people who have been issued final deportation orders by federal judges but remain at large in the country. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to explain the president's tweets.

It is unusual for law enforcement agencies to announce raids before they take place. 

Some in Trump's administration believe that decisive shows of force - like mass arrests - can serve as effective deterrents, sending a message to those considering making the journey to the U.S. that it's not worth coming.

Trump has threatened a series of increasingly drastic actions as he has tried to stem the flow of Central American migrants crossing the southern border, which has risen dramatically on his watch. 

He recently dropped a threat to slap tariffs on Mexico after the country agreed to dispatch its national guard and step-up coordination and enforcement efforts.

A senior Mexican official said Monday that, three weeks ago, about 4,200 migrants were arriving at the U.S. border daily. Now that number has dropped to about 2,600.

Immigration was a central theme of Trump's 2016 campaign and he is expected to hammer it as he tries to fire up his base heading into the 2020 campaign. 

President Trump who is due to formally announce his re-election bid tonight, yesterday tweeted threatening to remove millions of people living in the country illegally

President Trump who is due to formally announce his re-election bid tonight, yesterday tweeted threatening to remove millions of people living in the country illegally

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George Takei talks about Japanese internment camp with parents in America when he was aged 5

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