With the Statue of Liberty in the background, Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke proclaimed that his hometown of El Paso, Texas, could be the “Ellis Island of today.”

The 46-year-old former Texas representative made the remarks during an ABC News interview Monday. O’Rourke was touring the famed New York Harbor island, which was the main entry point and immigration inspection station for millions of immigrants until the mid-20th century.

“This is Ellis Island, but where I live in El Paso, Texas, could be the Ellis Island of today,” O’Rourke said. “Perhaps millions of people who become Americans coming from Mexico and El Salvador and the Western hemisphere first set foot in the United States in my hometown."

“So, though we’re about 2,000 miles apart, El Paso and New York, we’re connected in that common story of America,” he added.





The former congressman said that the island is “a reminder of American history at its best, and at its worst.” He said that there have been instances of “open, hostile racism” in America that have affected how the U.S. “welcomed or failed to welcome immigrants.”

“But there have also been moments where we overcame that and reminded ourselves who we are at our best,” O’Rourke said.

In the same interview, O'Rourke also compared the recent Trump rally in North Carolina to a Nazi rally.

O’Rourke, whom some consider a rising star in the Democratic Party, is not polling well and has seen his numbers continue to stagnate after a lackluster first debate performance. Once polling at around 9%, O’Rourke now garners 2.8% support in the latest RealClearPolitics national average of polls.