Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke criticized President Trump’s immigration policies in an interview released Friday, calling him “the arsonist who gets the credit for putting out the fire.”

“He is going to cause worse out-migration and asylum-seeking from Central America by cutting off all U.S. aid and then he wants to be the person to get the credit for stopping it,” the Texas Democrat said in an interview with CNN’s “The Axe Files” show.

“We need someone that will not play games with people’s lives or the security of this country but will invest in the smart decisions and policies like investing in Central America to stop the outflow before it even begins,” he continued.

“We can try to address these problems at the U.S.-Mexico border with walls or open arms or we can address them in the countries of origin before they become a problem and that’s what I want to do.”

Mr. O’Rourke also said Trump uses “rhetoric you might have heard” during Nazi Germany’s Third Reich, listing the president’s choices on immigration, family separation and travel bans.

Mr. Trump told reporters in March he had already ended aid payments to Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, referred to as the “Northern Triangle” and said Mexico needs to “stop the many thousands of people” traveling through the country to reach the U.S.

Mr. Trump backed off threats to close the border a week ago, saying he would introduce tariffs instead to scare Mexico into doing more to combat the smuggling of drugs and people.

However, he added he’s still opening to shutting down the border after a one-year grace period.

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