Tom Homan, President Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant border czar, confided to his allies at Fox News on Monday that he has spoken with the Department of Justice about his belief that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York broke the law by educating migrant families on their constitutional rights.
Ocasio-Cortez has provoked conservative ire by using her office to conduct educational webinars so that people can understand their obligations if an Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid occurs.
In one pamphlet, the congresswoman notes that ICE agents must have a warrant signed by a judge to enter a home, and that it is everyone’s right to deny access if that document is not presented. The document also advises people that they have a right to remain silent.
“It’s like AOC and others don’t want ICE to enforce the laws that they enacted,” Homan said to Fox. “I’ve asked DOJ where is that line of impediment, of interference?”
Homan has used several recent media appearances to criticize Ocasio-Cortez for her advocacy, and in a Fox News interview last week, he disclosed that he sent a letter to the deputy U.S. attorney general to ask for help against the congresswoman.
Ocasio-Cortez mocked Homan in a response to that appearance writing, “Maybe he can learn to read. The Constitution would be a good place to start.”
In fact, the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution guards against “unreasonable searches and seizures” by the government and has been a bedrock of American law since 1791.
Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York
Homan has been at the forefront of Trump’s efforts to engage in mass deportation of migrants. Since Trump’s inauguration, the administration has tried to appear as if ICE is hard at work purging the criminal migrants that Trump has spoken about for years.
But the number of undocumented criminals Trump spoke about was always an exaggeration, and Homan has instead engaged in media spectacles—like ride-alongs with TV host Dr. Phil McGraw—as opposed to serious immigration reform.
When ICE raids have swept up people, many of those apprehended are not hardened criminals but children and pregnant women. Among those who have suffered harassment under the new, harsher approach are military veterans and Native Americans.
Trump is a bigot who has used immigration policy to impose his world view on the country. Ocasio-Cortez has been at the forefront of resisting his actions, so now the Trump team is trying to use their newfound power to silence her.
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