Japanese American actor George Takei blasted President Trump Donald John TrumpSteele Dossier sub-source was subject of FBI counterintelligence probe Pelosi slams Trump executive order on pre-existing conditions: It 'isn't worth the paper it's signed on' Trump 'no longer angry' at Romney because of Supreme Court stance MORE on Friday, comparing recent political rhetoric to what he heard while interned during World War II.

“It is an eerie and chilling echo in current politics,” Takei told Sky News. “During the last presidential campaign, we heard the chant ‘lock her up,’ meaning Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonFox News poll: Biden ahead of Trump in Nevada, Pennsylvania and Ohio Trump, Biden court Black business owners in final election sprint The power of incumbency: How Trump is using the Oval Office to win reelection MORE. Now we’re hearing the chant ‘send her back.’ ... During our time, it was ‘lock up the Japs.’”

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The rebuke was a clear reference to the chant that erupted during a Trump rally in North Carolina this week. Attendees repeated “send her back” in the middle of a diatribe against Rep. Ilhan Omar Ilhan OmarOmar fires back at Trump over rally remarks: 'This is my country' Trump attacks Omar for criticizing US: 'How did you do where you came from?' Democrats scramble on COVID-19 relief amid division, Trump surprise MORE (D-Minn.), a naturalized U.S. citizen who came to the country as a refugee from Somalia.

Trump initially disavowed the chant Thursday, saying he “was not happy with it,” but he later said the chanters “love our country.”

He added that he tried to squelch the chant by speaking quickly to quiet the crowd, but he waited 14 seconds for the rally to quiet.

The chant and Trump’s reaction compounded an escalating scandal that erupted last weekend when he said that Omar and Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Alexandria Ocasio-CortezOn The Money: Anxious Democrats push for vote on COVID-19 aid | Pelosi, Mnuchin ready to restart talks | Weekly jobless claims increase | Senate treads close to shutdown deadline McCarthy says there will be a peaceful transition if Biden wins Anxious Democrats amp up pressure for vote on COVID-19 aid MORE (D-N.Y.), Ayanna Pressley Ayanna PressleyFauci, Black Lives Matter founders included on Time's 100 Most Influential People list Trump attacks Omar for criticizing US: 'How did you do where you came from?' Pressley applauded on House floor after moving speech on living with alopecia MORE (D-Mass.) and Rashida Tlaib Rashida Harbi TlaibTrump attacks Omar for criticizing US: 'How did you do where you came from?' George Conway: 'Trump is like a practical joke that got out of hand' Pelosi endorses Kennedy in Massachusetts Senate primary challenge MORE (D-Mich.), four progressive House freshmen known as “the squad,” should go back to “the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.”

Three of the four lawmakers were born in the U.S., and all are citizens. The House formally condemned as racist the remarks in a 240-187 vote Tuesday.

Takei, a frequent critic of the Trump administration, also slammed the White House over its hard-line immigration policies, particularly for a spike in family separations at the border last year.

“What’s happening today, though, is a new low because we as children were never torn away from our parents. What’s happening on the southern border is this incredible thing, this cruel thing of tearing children, sometimes infants, away from their parents and putting them in cages,” he said.