'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 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.'

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.'
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.'
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.  
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.
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