Republican Senator Lindsey Graham slammed Congresswoman-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for comparing the Central American migrant caravan to Jews fleeing Nazi Germany during the Second World War.

GOP South Carolina senator, Graham, told the newly-elected New York Democrat congresswoman to 'take a tour of the Holocaust Museum' to understand the difference between the persecution of Jewish people and the migrant caravan.

Graham was responding to a tweet sent by Ocasio-Cortez, in which she compared refugees such as Jews fleeing persecution in WWII and Rwandans fleeing genocide in the 1990s, to the current migrants who arrived at the Mexico border from Central America at the weekend.

Ocasio-Cortez tweeted on Sunday afternoon: 'Asking to be considered a refugee & applying for status isn't a crime.

Sen. Lindsey Graham criticized Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for comparing Central American migrants to Jews fleeing Nazi Germany during the Second World War

'It wasn't for Jewish families fleeing Germany. It wasn't for targeted families fleeing Rwanda. It wasn't for communities fleeing war-torn Syria. And it isn't for those fleeing violence in Central America.'

But Graham did not agree with her comparison and did not believe the Central American migrants are asylum seekers.

He replied: 'I recommend she take a tour of the Holocaust Museum in DC. Might help her better understand the differences between the Holocaust and the caravan in Tijuana.'

Ocasio-Cortez responded to Graham's criticism in another tweet yesterday in which she said: 'The point of such a treasured museum is to bring its lessons to present day.

Newly-elected New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said 'asking to be considered a refugee and applying for status isn't a crime'

'This administration has jailed children and violated human rights. Perhaps we should stop pretending that authoritarianism + violence is a historical event instead of a growing force.'

Tensions on the border escalated on Sunday with U.S. Border Patrol agents firing tear gas canisters and rubber bullets at a group of migrants on Sunday, including families with young children, as hundreds of people swarmed the border.

Trump threatened to permanently close the U.S. border with Mexico, saying he'll take the drastic action if members of the swelling migrant caravan are not deported back to Central America.

Ocasio-Cortez was criticized for comparing Central American migrants to Jewish and Rwandan refugees fleeing from persecution

Graham claimed there was a 'difference between' those in the migrant caravan and refugees fleeing the Nazis and war-torn regions

But Trump yesterday denied that border patrol agents fired tear gas on children over the weekend during a confrontation with a group of migrants, despite pictures showing mothers running through clouds of smoke carrying infants.

He claimed that so-called 'grabbers' were snatching children up at the border to get special treatment and to avoid being confronted by Border Patrol.

That was how he explained images that showed children fleeing tear gas during a confrontation between some illegal immigrants and Border Patrol a day before.

Trump asked why adults claiming to be the toddler's parents were anywhere near the tear gas in the first place.

Maria Lila Meza Castro, a 39-year-old migrant woman from Honduras, running away from tear gas with her five-year-old twin daughters Saira Nalleli Mejia Meza (left) and Cheili Nalleli Mejia Meza (right) in front of the border wall between the U.S and Mexico, in Tijuana on Sunday

'And, in some cases, you know, they're not the parents. These are people, they call them grabbers. They grab a child, because they think they're going to have a certain status by grabbing a child,' he claimed.

Ocasio-Cortez, who is the youngest ever Congresswoman elected to the House at 29 when she won her seat earlier this month, complained of sexism when she was mistaken for an intern and directed to the spouse areas during her first week.

Graham angrily defended Brett Kavanaugh, who he is pictured alongside in his Twitter profile picture, during his Supreme Court nomination in September when the judge was accused of sex assault by Dr Christine Blasey Ford.