QUEENS, N.Y. – Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., threw down the gauntlet to Tom Homan on Friday after the border czar previously threatened to refer her to the Justice Department for giving advice to migrants on how to avoid being deported.
Ocasio-Cortez told attendees at a Queens town hall event that she was not afraid of the immigration hardliners’ words in the wake of her office hosting a “Know your Rights” webinar in February. Homan has suggested her actions might be illegal and may impede Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from carrying out the Trump administration’s mass deportations.
“Tom Homan said he was going to refer me to DOJ because I’m using my free speech rights in order to advise people of their constitutional protections. To that I say: Come for me, do I look like I care?” Ocasio-Cortez told a cheering crowd.
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Ocasio-Cortez asserted that there was “nothing illegal about it and if they want to make it illegal, they can come take me.”
In February, Ocasio-Cortez’s office hosted a live webinar advising migrants in her district about their rights if they come face to face looking to deport them.
People were also recommended to record searches if ICE came calling and how to differentiate between different warrants ICE agents are likely to carry.
That led to Homan suggesting the New York Democrat could be crossing a line.
“I’m working with the Department of Justice and finding out. Where is that line that they cross? So maybe AOC is going to be in trouble now,” he said after the event.
“What she needs to do is read the statutes enacted by Congress… because it’s a crime to enter this country illegally,” the Trump border czar said separately on “Sunday Morning Futures.”
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“Not only that, but when you harbor and conceal and impede law enforcement, that’s a felony,” he said. “What she’s doing, she says she’s educating everybody on their constitutional rights, and we all know they’ve got constitutional rights, but what she’s really doing… she’s trying to teach them how to evade law enforcement.”
Ocasio-Cortez on Friday also attacked the Trump administration’s approach to border security and immigration, referring to its deportation of Venezuelan gang members as “sanctioned kidnappings.”
“I don’t even want to call them deportations. They are sanctioned kidnappings in many circumstances,” the congresswoman told attendees. “They do not have carte blanche to enter. If they do want to knock on your door, or knock on anyone’s door — including your workplace — you can tell them, ‘Show me a warrant. Show me a judicial warrant.’ And if they don’t show you a warrant, you can say they can come back with a warrant. You have the right to turn them away.”
Ocasio-Cortez was speaking to a packed auditorium full of hundreds of attendees. Those who couldn’t get in sat in an overflow room across the hall.
Attendees gave the progressive lawmaker a warm reception and, bar one disruptor, appeared fully supportive of her legislative agenda and her representation of the district to date. Many questions from the audience centered around local issues, calls for a minimum wage hike, how to improve air quality, as well as asking her how she plans on tackling the Trump administration.
The loudest applause came when Ocasio-Cortez voiced her opposition to a proposed new casino at Citi Field, which would be part of a new sports and entertainment park. It has gotten approval from the New York City Council, although the congresswoman said she doesn’t have a say in the matter since it’s a state issue as well as not being in her district.
The event was mostly uneventful except for an early disruption by a protester who began shouting at Ocasio-Cortez about the “genocide” in Gaza.
“I am a healthcare worker and I want to know what you’re doing about the genocide in Gaza,” the protester started shouting at the congresswoman.
“Shame! Shame! Shame!” the audience began shouting at the disruptor. Audible “boos” could be heard as well before she was eventually led out by security.
Fox News’ Alec Schemmel and Taylor Penney contributed to this report.
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