Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who has claimed that Border Patrol was operating concentration camps along the border, visited a number of migrant detention centers on Monday and set off a firestorm of controversy afterwards, charging that agents are forcing migrants to drink out of toilets.
A charge that was quickly proven to be little more than irresponsible grandstanding from the Democratic congresswoman from New York.
Ocasio-Cortez spoke to reporters after one visit and, sounding a lot like an overly dramatic high school teenager, claimed the women “were being told by CBP officers to drink out of toilets,” as if this was a fact.
The freshman lawmaker was asked by someone off camera if she witnessed anyone drinking from a toilet, but she declines to answer as she rolled up her window.
Here’s @AOC outside the CBP station in Hondo Pass. She says the women detained inside are being forced to drink out of toilets. pic.twitter.com/0XerZe2AmB
— Jonathan M. Katz✍? (@KatzOnEarth) July 1, 2019
The accusations included charging federal agents with sexual harassment, although it’s unclear if a tweet from Ocasio-Cortez is in reference to the tour or a controversial Border Patrol Facebook group.
The Washington Examiner reported that an agent said she mentioned this around them, “Something under her breath, ‘Oh, all these guys in here are gonna f–k me.’”
Just left the 1st CBP facility.
I see why CBP officers were being so physically &sexually threatening towards me.
Officers were keeping women in cells w/ no water & had told them to drink out of the toilets.
This was them on their GOOD behavior in front of members of Congress.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 1, 2019
Not only did the socialist lawmaker accuse federal agents of forcing migrants who illegally entered the United States to live under extreme conditions, but she also claimed that the officers sat back and laughed about it — which conveniently adds credence to the claim of concentration camps that resulted in the congresswoman being raked over the coals.
“Now I’ve seen the inside of these facilities. It’s not just the kids. It’s everyone. People drinking out of toilets, officers laughing in front of members Congress,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted. “I brought it up to their superiors. They said, “officers are under stress & act out sometimes.” No accountability.”
Now I’ve seen the inside of these facilities.
It’s not just the kids. It’s everyone. People drinking out of toilets, officers laughing in front of members Congress.
I brought it up to their superiors. They said “officers are under stress & act out sometimes.” No accountability.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 1, 2019
The irrational behavior didn’t stop there, however, as Ocasio-Cortez had the audacity to claim she “was not safe from the officers” while visiting one of the facilities — this being an outright slander of the hard-working agents forced to deal with the flood of illegal immigrants on the southern border.
Rep. @AOC visits migrant facility in Clint, TX: "In that last facility I was not safe from the officers in that facility." https://t.co/hXbgvILzfL pic.twitter.com/LYZyYSQwwR
— The Hill (@thehill) July 1, 2019
A number of hard-left progressive Democrat lawmakers joined Ocasio-Cortez in the tours, and Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., posted a video repeated the same charge that the women were told to drink from toilets.
"If you want water, just drink from a toilet." That's what border patrol told one thirsty woman we met on today's #DemsAtTheBorder trip. These are the same CBP personnel who threatened to throw burritos at members of Congress. Changes must be made. #DontLookAway pic.twitter.com/dW34DRduDA
— Judy Chu (@RepJudyChu) July 1, 2019
A CBP official denied the toilet accusations, explaining the units had standard-issue appliances with sinks that dispense safe drinking water attached to toilets, the New York Post reported.
“‘No one is drinking toilet water,” the official said. “They’re drinking potable water from the sink attached to the toilet. It’s what you would find in every municipal jail in the United States.”
Washington Examiner’s Anna Giaritelli reported Ocasio-Cortez screamed at federal agents “in a threatening manner” during a visit to a Border Patrol facility in El Paso, Texas, and refused to tour the facility.
https://twitter.com/Anna_Giaritelli/status/1145778785343684608
More from the Washington Examiner:
“She comes out screaming at our agents, right at the beginning [of the tour] … Crying and screaming and yelling,” said one witness who said he was stunned by the outburst in front of approximately 40 people.
“The agents, they wanted to respond, but they held back because she’s a congressional delegate. But when you have someone yelling at you in a threatening manner … ” the same person said. “They were like, ‘Hey, you need to kinda step back.’”
An agent reportedly on the scene explained that Ocasio-Cortez misrepresented what she was told about a person drinking from a toilet, according to the article.
“This is what happened with the migrant and drinking water from toilet: she wanted water, didn’t know how to use the faucet in the cell, and drank from the toilet. She never told AOC that we made her drink from the toilet. AOC, of course, changed it … This was when she [the migrant] was apprehended and brought into the facility,” the agent said.
Giaritella also noted that a Border Patrol official familiar with the sector’s media and congressional visits said Rep. Veronica Escobar, the Democrat lawmaker representing the district, has been through stations “15 times” but did not respond in the same way as was seen Monday.
But then, going into these facilities looking for concentration camp-like conditions, that’s what Ocasio-Cortez came away with:
Now I’m on my way to Clint, where the Trump admin was denying children toothpaste and soap.
This has been horrifying so far. It is hard to understate the enormity of the problem. We’re talking systemic cruelty w/ a dehumanizing culture that treats them like animals.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 1, 2019
Included among the “inhumane” accusations was that the women were forced to wash their “entire body” with shampoo intended for the hair.
CBP made us check our phones.
But one woman slipped me this packet to take with me.
It says “shampoo,” but she told me that this is all they give women to wash their entire body. Nothing else.
Some women’s hair was falling out. Others had gone 15 days without taking a shower. pic.twitter.com/OsaKS0YD9a
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 1, 2019
As for the explanation of the single unit appliance that includes a sink atop a toilet, Ocasio-Cortez had a ready reply in repeating her claim that the women were forced to drink toilet water, claiming the sink portion was not working.
This was in fact the type of toilet we saw in the cell.
Except there was just one, and the sink portion was not functioning – @AyannaPressley smartly tried to open the faucet, and nothing came out.
So the women were told they could drink out of the bowl. https://t.co/rcu9Rt6B2x
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 1, 2019
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The longest-tenured writer at BizPac Review, Tom grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills.
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