Staten Island Republican congressional candidate Michael Grimm said Tuesday that the cries of children being taken away from their parents at the border are no worse than the sobs of kids being dropped off at daycare.

The convicted tax cheat, running for his old congressional seat, said Americans shouldn’t put too much stock into recordings recently released of children sobbing at immigration shelters after they’d been taken from their parents at the border.

“I think it’s extremely unfortunate, but what people are forgetting … they just want to listen to those tapes,” Grimm told New York 1 on a campaign stop.

“You know, I can take you to any nursery and you’re going to hear the exact same things as a mother has to leave for work and has to leave her child at daycare. You’re going to hear those exact same things, OK?”

As the ex-con made that startling comparison, a group of female supporters behind him nodded and applauded.

“I think when you really look at it, those children haven’t been that safe in a long time and the condition they have are much better from where they came from,” he added.

Grimm is challenging Rep. Dan Donovan (R-Staten Island) for the GOP nod, and is well ahead, according to a recent poll.