ICE Protesters Co-Opt ‘Never Again’ Holocaust Remembrance Slogan

A small far-left group of Jewish activists, Never Again Action, has been organizing protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and migrant detention facilities in an effort to close down what they liken to “concentration camps.”

Last month, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) outraged mainstream Jewish organizations by comparing the migrant facilities to concentration camps, adding, “Never again” — a clear reference to the Nazi murder of six million Jews in World War Two.

Critics noted that the Nazi concentration camps were intended to murder Jews, and to enslave those who remained alive. The Nazis also invaded other countries and rounded up Jews. Jews were trying to leave Nazi-occupied Germany, not to enter against the law.

Ocasio-Cortez refused to apologize, even as criticism poured in from the U.S. Holocaust Museum, Israel’s Yad Vashem memorial, and Holocaust survivors. For some radical Jews, the analogy provided an opportunity to organize, using their identity as Jews.

They have succeeded in at least one regard: they have convinced the mainstream media to treat them as if they represent all Jews, adding to the moral force of their protest. For example, NBC News reported Monday: “Jews protest ICE across the country.”

The migrant facilities were not created under the Trump administration. Most were opened under the Obama administration after a surge of unaccompanied minor children crossed the border illegally — many doing so in anticipation of the passage of an amnesty.

This reporter encountered a family of Jewish protesters outside the Homestead, Florida, facility (above) that drew several presidential candidates to join activists last month during the Democratic debates. Alongside signs that read, “Close the Trump Camps NOW,” and “Never Again is NOW,” one child carried a sign that simply said, “FUCK TRUMP.”

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He earned an A.B. in Social Studies and Environmental Science and Public Policy from Harvard. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. He is also the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.