George Takei Tries To Argue That Japanese Internment Camps Were BETTER Than Migrant Detention Centers

Worst. Comparison. EVER.

George Takei recently decided to compare migrant detention centers to Japanese internment camps, but he essentially argued that people in Japanese internment camps had it BETTER than illegal immigrants.

Yes, really.

In an op-ed on Foreign Policy Magazine, Takei wrote:

Imagine this scene: Tens of thousands of people, mostly families with children, are labeled by the government as a threat to our nation, used as political tools by opportunistic politicians, and caught in a vast gray zone where their civil and human rights are erased by the presumption of universal guilt. Thousands are moved around to makeshift detention centers and sites, where camps are thrown together with more regard to the bottom line than the humanity of the new residents.

That is America today, at our southern border, which asylum-seekers and undocumented migrants alike are seeking to cross. But it is also America in late 1941, in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor, when overnight my community, my family, and I became the enemy because we happened to look like those who had dropped the bombs. And yet, in one core, horrifying way this is worse. At least during the internment of Japanese-Americans, I and other children were not stripped from our parents. We were not pulled screaming from our mothers’ arms. We were not left to change the diapers of younger children by ourselves.

He continued:

At least during the internment, when I was just 5 years old, I was not taken from my parents.At least during the internment, when I was just 5 years old, I was not taken from my parents. My family was sent to a racetrack for several weeks to live in a horse stall, but at least we had each other. 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. They told us we were “going on a vacation to live with the horsies.” And when we got to Rohwer camp, they again put themselves between us and the horror, so that we would never fully appreciate the grim reality of the mosquito-infested swamp into which we had been thrown. At least during the internment, we remained a family, and I credit that alone for keeping the scars of our unjust imprisonment from deepening on my soul.

I cannot for a moment imagine what my childhood would have been like had I been thrown into a camp without my parents. That this is happening today fills me with both rage and grief: rage toward a failed political leadership who appear to have lost even their most basic humanity, and a profound grief for the families affected.

Except…his entire comparison is rubbish. You cannot compare the internment of American citizens back then to illegal aliens ILLEGALLY coming into our country right now. It’s not the same thing AT ALL.

I disagree Mr. George Takei……What happened to the Japanese-Americans during World War II was way worse than whats happening to these illegal immigrants. You and they were American citizens. That should have never happened.

— Sits Sayamnath (@Sits_Racha) June 19, 2018

The sad thing about the internment camps is they were US Citizens. Bad comparison.

— Jeremy K. (@JeremyC33) June 19, 2018

No comparison, you were already living inside our country. VERY BAD EXAMPLE.

— Linda Lewis (@snowball1926) June 19, 2018

GP Then George Takei is a moron. When Mr. Takei was interned, he was an American citizen whose only crime was being of Japanese descent. He was legally present in America. The illegal immigrants committed a crime, aren’t citizens, and aren’t legally present. https://t.co/LZaq3vA43a

— The Gormogons (@Gormogons) June 19, 2018

This is a great point, because incarceration of foreigners who willfully broke the law is exactly like race-based incarceration of law-abiding American citizens. https://t.co/oWGbT2ZhOA

— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) June 19, 2018

Exactly which part of the illegal border entry prosecution is akin to the Japanese-American internment camps? @GeorgeTakei is not a serious man.

— Echo of Conscience (@ConscienceEcho) June 19, 2018

This is the type of comment that needs a collective pushback from everyone. Yes, that includes the media. This is a dangerous, insulting and perspective-less comment. It is not true, it’s not even close to a valid analogy, and it pushes us farther from reality.

— The Artist Formerly Known As Staple Genius (@earlp1231) June 19, 2018

This comparison is gross.

We can agree that separating kids from parents shouldn’t happen. But also the government forcibly placing American citizens into camps because of their race is antithetical to our values as a country. Neither are good, but the former involves a crime.

— Ben Krake (@bkraky1) June 19, 2018

He once again proves he has no clue about the issue he is commenting on.

— SoiledBrain (@SoiledBrain) June 19, 2018

Try again, George. This is nonsense.

h/t Twitchy