Jeff Sessions: We’re not Nazis because Nazis ‘were keeping the Jews from leaving’

Embed from Getty Images

In the year 2018, the Attorney General for the United States of America has gone on television to explain why the policies of his administration and his Justice Department are not like the policies of Nazi Germany. We’re still talking about how the Trump Administration is ripping children away from their mothers and fathers. We’re still talking about how the parents are lied to when their children are escorted away. We’re still talking about how the Trump administration’s official policy is to put more than 2000 children – some of them babies – in honest-to-God cages. We’re still talking about a federal policy of child abuse. But don’t call them Nazis, because… the goal was slightly different.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions dismissed comparisons of the detention facilities for migrant children to Nazi concentration camps by arguing that Nazis “were keeping the Jews from leaving the country.”

“Well, it’s a real exaggeration, of course. In Nazi Germany, they were keeping the Jews from leaving the country,” Sessions tried to explain during an interview Monday night with Fox News host Laura Ingraham. Sessions later said if parents are deported, their children return to their home country with them. If the parents claim asylum and stay in the US, Sessions said, their children also stay but in Department of Health and Human Services’ custody.

The attorney general’s remarks were in response to Michael Hayden, the former director of the CIA and NSA, and Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s comparisons of Nazi Germany’s death camps to the shelters housing children separated from their parents and unaccompanied minors who crossed the border.

“We’re doing the right thing,” Sessions told Fox News Monday. “We’re taking care of these children. They are not being abused. Health and Human Services holds them in good condition.”

[From CNN]

One, it’s a lie to say that deported parents will be reunited with their children, because some people have already been deported and their children are still stuck in goddamn cages. Two, the Attorney General of the United States of America is out here arguing that “actually, Nazis wanted to keep Jews within their borders!” His argument is that instead of rounding up all the brown people and exterminating them like the Nazis would have done, the Trump policy is to just round up all the brown people, put their children in cages and then DEPORT the whole lot of ‘em. Jeff Sessions is literally out here doing some #NotAllNazis bulls–t, right?

Embed from Getty Images

Photos courtesy of Getty.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

63 Responses to “Jeff Sessions: We’re not Nazis because Nazis ‘were keeping the Jews from leaving’”

Comments are Closed

We close comments on older posts to fight comment spam.

  1. Arvedia says:

    Wow. I’m a German, and we have a rule of thumb: If you have to argue how you’re not acting exactly like Adolf Hitler, you’ve got a big problem.

    • Valerie says:

      Well, he let them keep their names! He isn’t like Hitler at all. /s.

      This is indefensible. I don’t know how any sane person could claim to have a heart and agree with what’s being done here.

    • QueenB says:

      He is not like Hitler at all. Hitler had a moustache.

      • Lacia Can says:

        Lol. “And Nazis called themselves the National Socialist Party. We’re called Republicans. Totally different, see?”

    • Lacia Can says:

      That was my first thought too. If you have to tell everyone you’re not a Nazi, then you are one.

      • Lilly says:

        Yes, looks like a Nazi, hates like a Nazi, etc. is a Nazi. They even have the look, especially when I see photos of Stephen Miller. Whenever I see him I think “what bald Nazi does he remind me of?”

      • Lacia Can says:

        I’ve seen him compared to Goebbels. It’s not far off. He also looks like Nosferatu from that old movie. I’m pretty sure flowers curl up and die when he enters the room.

    • Christina says:

      The NYT has an article about Stephen Miller and Jeff Sessions and their histories as fringe alt-righters. They are the poster boys for double-speak, plausible-deniability racism. Of course people who know what racism is don’t buy it, but racism is the issue that got Trump elected. The media was making money, so they didn’t call it out. My friends and I were freaked out that this could go the way of Nazi Germany. I have friends who had family die at Aushwitz, and they are terrified. I live in California, and the Japanese interment is fresher in our minds where I live. The administration is fluent in dog whistle.

      I feel helpless in California. All we can do is donate to the ACLU or go to local protests. Republicans and evangelicals tended their political garden and gerrymandered the south to death, so it is hard for progressives to win there. A friend expressed that we should all be protesting at the Walmart in Texas. The racist Americans who want this have control.

      This could turn into a revolution that pulls us all in. Colin Kaepernic sacrificed his career to fight racism. That’s what is is going to take. I feel cowardly. I want the system to work, but our democracy is dying.

      • Lilly says:

        I agree. I listen, see the pictures, read and I sob and sob and wonder what I can do, other than donate. So often I put the cowardly label on myself thinking there must be more to be done. #PresidentMiller is despicable and Orange Fuhrer is following blindly.

      • BearcatLawyer says:

        You can do something, no matter where you are located. This is a link to all of the accredited organizations which provide free or low-cost services to immigrants in court proceedings:

        https://www.justice.gov/eoir/recognized-organizations-and-accredited-representatives-roster-state-and-city

        They would love volunteers to help them put together cases, accompany people to court, and explain the legal system. Contact the ones near you or even the national offices of groups like Catholic Charities or YMCA International Services for information on what kinds of volunteers they need most. Many of these groups also operate temporary shelters and coordinate foster care placements of unaccompanied immigrant children. Just spending a few hours per week playing with them or teaching them English can make a world of difference.

        This is another volunteer opportunity specifically involving unaccompanied immigrant children:

        https://www.theyoungcenter.org/volunteer-at-the-young-center/

        Every little bit helps, even if you are far from our southern border.

    • Cee says:

      He’s not acting like Hitler because he’s not European. /s

  2. Valerie says:

    I don’t even have words for this. The amount of mental gymnastics here is just too much. Come on, America. Impeach the evil dictator who calls himself your president.

    • N. says:

      The GOP won’t because every day Trump stays in power, they’re allowed to loot the country. That’s what this is about.

  3. Jensies says:

    Those war-crime trials are going to be Must See TV in 10 years.

  4. French Girl says:

    I repeat .They deserve all to have a painful and untreatable cancer for their actions

    • Val.the.runner says:

      Unfortunately, I cannot disagree with your sentiments. I have a dear friend battling cancer at the moment. That kind of pain and mental stress should only be reserved for people like him. May they all rot somewhere and become human centipedes. They deserve to eat the amount of s$$t they are spewing.

  5. noway says:

    That’s where he is going with this? Someone needs to tell him, when you are going with semantics to defend yourself from looking like Nazi’s and the holocaust you already lost. Sorry even though you look like the Keebler elf it doesn’t help.

    Even if every kid was taken to a fun summer camp without cages, which would help with the cruel part, I just don’t get this policy. Our government has enough trouble keeping track of easier details, much less thousands of kids who mostly don’t speak English and their parents who mostly don’t speak English. With people from our country who mostly only speak English. I foresee a lot of kids stuck in US care which isn’t cheap, cause we don’t know where their relatives are. Why are we doing this? It’s cruel and fiscally it makes no sense.

  6. greenmonster says:

    “Health and Human Services holds them in good condition.” Is he talking about cars or children?

  7. Chaine says:

    I wish I felt that this was a watershed moment and people would rise up against this administration, but polls of Republicans show that the vast majority of them support the caging and warehousing of these innocent children.

    • Mel M says:

      Me too. I’m so sickened and just want to go down there and just hold these children and give them affection that they are so heartlessly denied. If they would let me I would. Sadly I went down a rabbit hole reading comments on IGlast night of MANY MANY MANY white women defending this while claiming they are Christians. It’s the Law they say, it’s just now being enforced they say, it’s the parents fault that know exactly what they are doing by breaking the law they say, everything on any other news outlet is false except for Fox and Trumps twitter account, we love Ann Coulter they say. Makes me physically ill. This is NOT for Jesus. He would be turning the tables over because he would be ANGRY!

      • Swack says:

        Sorry Mel B, you’re not allowed to do that according to some of the stories I’ve read (hold and hug them). From a CNN article:

        When Antar Davidson was ordered to separate two brothers and a sister tightly hugging each other, he realized his time as a youth care worker at an Arizona immigrant children’s shelter was coming to an end.

    • Christina says:

      Chaine, You aren’t lying. Only two things can change this: votes or revolution. If they have locked down all of the swing counties in red states, our democracy is so screwed. I am Mexican-American, and I know African Americans who agree with this policy; I just dumped a friend from high school on Facebook because of his racism against the people crosssing the border. I read their comments in all sorts of blogs. It ain’t just racist white folks who think this way. Black women came out for Hillary Clinton, and I know of plenty of African American women who stand for love and who think that this is wrong, but A lot of African American men stayed home or voted Trump. Me and my friends know too many. Think Diamond and Silk, who are women: they play to the base. They hold these folks up as proof that they are not racist. Ugh…

      • kacy says:

        I think a well-organized Blue State boycott of key red state goods would help a long way. There is no reason to give these people any of our money if they support these policies. We can all drink american distilled whisky instead of bourbon etc… Buy from ethical companies only. This is how battles will be fought in the future.

  8. Valerie says:

    >”Health and Human Services holds them in good condition.”

    How? By mocking them? By refusing to touch them, other than to change their diapers, thereby depriving them of a basic human need? By making them sleep on the floor, in cages (excuse me, an enclosed space with chain link fences…), with poor excuses for blankets to cover themselves with? That they were assigned numbers instead of their names was only a rumour, but it wouldn’t be hard to believe.

    This is what pure evil looks like. And it’s not the first time this has happened.

  9. April says:

    Don’t forget his quoting a bible verse. We are turning into Gilead before our own eyes.

    • elimaeby says:

      I was thinking the same this morning. I don’t know if I can keep watching “The Handmaid’s Tale” as I sit here and watch it happening in real time in front of me. It all makes one feel so helpless.

  10. BearcatLawyer says:

    My mother always said that if it looks like a Nazi, walks like a Nazi, salutes like a Nazi, and talks like a Nazi, then it’s a Nazi.

    Ok, what she actually said was “duck” instead of “Nazi,” and she did not include “salutes” and said “quacks” instead of “talks,” but the analogy works. We see you, Neonazi Jeff Sessions.

    This did not end well for Hitler. It will not end well for Cheeto Mussolini and his minions either.

    • ohdear says:

      you know when you read history books and you wonder why the F nobody stood up at the right moment and stopped sh.. from happening when it wasnt too late?

      well, this would be the moment.

      but history does repeat itself because people hang on to the illusion that somehow someone is going to make it stop. but its not going to be me because im just one unimportant person..

      WE have to BE the change. its time to DO something!

      • ORIGINAL T.C. says:

        Well that’s just it. Trump and Sessions didn’t just wake up and randomly decide to imprison children. It started out with Trump trying to delegitimize the first Black President, then on to attacking Mexicans, Mexican-Americans, Muslims, Women, Black Americans, and then “shit hole” countries. People were bothered but it still took until now locking up Brown children escaping prosecution for true action. By the time he gets to the White race there will be no one to fight for them.

        P.S. Let’s not group all Christians together on this issue. The Mormons and Catholics have been in arms about his attack on immigrants. The story of the stranger (immigrant) is very important to Catholics. The Evangelicals are the main ones still holding strong.

  11. Rocky says:

    I think they are scrambling because this is the first issue that has stuck. Every other issue has been overshadowed by something more outrageous the next day. Bout time.

    • Louisa says:

      Agreed. I think the last time something lasted longer than one new cycle was Charlottesville. I remember saying at the time that Trump couldn’t survive the “very fine people” comment. Oh how naive I was.

  12. Astrid says:

    Just when I thought the daily news couldn’t get any worse…..

  13. Sophie says:

    WTF world are we living in? That’s their defense? Put the whole government in those cages where they belong.

  14. littlemissnaughty says:

    I mean when in doubt, Wikipedia that sh*t. The Nazis worked up to what the Allies discovered in ’45. They worked hard to kill millions of people. It took time, effort, money, and commitment (I’m not trying to be cute, this is fact). So when this elfen turd wants to put forward THAT argument? I say you’re on the right path to becoming Adolf’s proud heir, Jeff.

  15. Reece says:

    I have so many words for this POS troll but all of them would have me banned from this site.

  16. MelGam says:

    Let’s not forget the Texas ranger who was arrested for extremely aggravated sexual assault against a 4-year old girl. He threatened her mother, an undocumented immigrant with deportation if she reported the abuse. Explain that Jefferson Beauregard Session III. Don’t worry, I’ll wait.

  17. Jordan says:

    Up here in Washington, there have been hundreds of the special agents and ICE vans driving around. You can be illegal and get a drivers license here so you can at least work and help provide for yourself and family. My assistant manager is from Mexico and the stories she tells me about what happens down there hurt my soul. This administration is Hitler 2.0.

  18. Ramona Q. says:

    Tricking people into going with you by telling them they’re being brought to take a shower is right out of the concentration camp handbook. This is so disturbing.

  19. HK9 says:

    One of the reasons I left the church was because I realized that Christians in North America no longer had any moral compass and didn’t know it. For that reason, they not only scare me, but I realized I had no place there. These are the people who support this policy, so if you think they’re going to do anything to help they will not.

    They.do.not.care.what.happens.to.those.children.

    If we’re going to help we’re going to have to push HARD, because the ethics of average citizen is dead. You can’t waste time waking them up. You just have to do what’s right.

    • BeeBop says:

      To paraphrase the Real World, the left needs to stop being polite and start getting real. I am so tired of our side thinking that somehow these people will see the light. They have shown their true colors. They have no humanity. It is well beyond the point of trying to reason with them.

      Frankly, if I hear one more person say “they go low, we go high!” I might scream. I’ve grown to hate that phrase with a passion. I’ve been tone checked by my own side all while neo-Nazis take over my GD country.

      The neo-Nazis are on our doorstep. If you want to invite them in for tea, try to reason with them and “take the high road” go right the eff ahead.

      I for one am DONE giving these people the benefit of the doubt.

      • Cintra.C says:

        I completely agree. I am done taking the high road.

      • Lady Medusa says:

        Taking the high road doesn’t mean inaction. The Southern Civil Rights movement was nonviolent and definitely took the high road, and was extremely active and effective.

        Nonviolence, peace, and love are the only antidotes to hate, violence, and intolerance. If you become what you’re fighting against, then what are you fighting for?

  20. JRenee says:

    This is what we have come to. This is is deplorable and shameful. The US has allowed a trump led, McConnell approved shit show to uncover and expose the true greed, racist, bigoted policies.
    Unbelievable in 2018..scary

  21. Louisa says:

    He keeps saying they are not being “abused”. Well forcibly removing children from their parents and then not consoling them sounds pretty f*cking abusive to me.

    • Still_Sarah says:

      @ Louisa : I worked in the legal department of a child protection agency in Canada. The law defines emotional abuse or exposure to the emotional abuse of another person (ie: a parent) as child abuse. These children are being traumatized by their separation from their parents. You can’t explain that to a child. IMO this is as harmful to them as physical abuse. And they are being kept in GD CAGES like criminals!

  22. Natalia says:

    “Jeff Sessions: We’re not Nazis because Nazis ‘were keeping the Jews from leaving’.”

    That’s some great logic there. /sarcasm

  23. Woah says:

    Does he not know history at all? The Jewish persecution began by *deporting* first Polish Jews and others right after, NOT by keeping Jews within the state. There were plans of deporting all Jews to thw Soviet Union or outside of Europe. Only when encouraged by beginning war and expansionism did the Nazi party decide on keeping the Jewish people in camps and finally exterminating them in 1942 (why send the Jews to countries outside of Germany if youre going to invade those countries too?)

  24. Ruyana says:

    If anyone would care to leave a comment for Jeff Sessions at the DOJ the comment line number is: 202-353-1555.

    I called an congratulated him on the Hat Trick of perverting the law, the Constitution and the Bible all at the same time. And I reminded him that there are plenty of people who see him for what he is.

  25. Veronica S. says:

    “We’re not Nazis,” said Adolfus Hitlerthirdreicherson, “We are putting people in prison camps for the betterment of America. We’re only traumatizing them, not killing them, Jesus. Y’all need to read a Bible sometime.”

  26. paranormalgirl says:

    if it walks like a Nazi, talks like a Nazi, thinks like a Nazi, it’s a Nazi.

  27. TyrantDestroyed says:

    I think at some point during his campaign Nazi Donnie promised that instead of deporting undocumented people he will make them pay with field labour in a sort of “working camps” before deporting them. So b*tches please, stop lying about your ulterior moves and accept you are the new Nazi government.

  28. Kitten says:

    Off topic but Dan Friedman (of Mother Jones) is reporting that Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee just interrupted Rep. Jim Jordan to assert, in part that Republicans are planning to fire Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein “on Friday.”

    Get ready.

  29. TaniaOG says:

    I’m afraid of Americans.

  30. magnoliarose says:

    I guess my comment didn’t make it through earlier. I am too lazy to rewrite it.
    Once 45 came down the escalators and described Mexicans as rapists and murderers nothing he does should be a surprise.
    It will continue to be awful until it gets so bad it is brought to the doorstep of white people who think they are immune.

  31. Snappyfish says:

    The arrogance & stupidity is this administered is astounding. Someone needs to lead the AD to a history book & they are all morally bankrupt

  32. jana says:

    This evil Keebler Elf looking mother fucker has a tell~watch him when he speaks, he always smiles or giggles when he is telling a blatent lie. It’s unbelieveably obvious and creepy.

  33. Deedee says:

    God he’s so stupid. There’s a reason why it was called the Final Solution.