Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez appeared on MSNBC's "The Rachel Maddow Show" to discuss President Donald Trump's primetime address on immigration. Ocasio-Cortez wasted no time saying Trump violated humanitarian laws and asked why Immigration and Customs Enforcement is being funded.
"No one should feel unsafe in the United States of America and that includes our amazing and beautiful and productive immigrant community. And moreover, the one thing that the president has not talked about is the fact that he has systematically engaged in the violation of human rights borders – of human rights on our borders," Ocasio-Cortez told Maddow.
The Congresswoman was quick to say Trump is responsible for separating families at the southern border, but she failed to mention President Barack Obama had similar policies in place.
"He has separated children from their families, he talked about what happened the day after Christmas. On the day of Christmas, a child died in ICE custody," Ocasio-Cortez explained.
And, apparently it's up to President Trump to defend the need to protect our borders. Guess it's not so obvious to progressives.
"The president should not be asking for more to an agency that has systematically violated human rights. The president should really be defending why we're funding such an agency at all because right now what we're seeing is death. Right now what we're seeing is the violation of human rights," she said.
She also explained her take on visa overstays and somehow tried to pin that on Trump.
"Even if you're anti-immigrant in this country, the majority of immigrant overstays, the majority of the reason that people are undocumented is visa overstays. It's not because people are crossing a border illegally," the Congresswoman said. "It's because of via overstays, which, mind you, he is talking about legal immigration. He's trying to restrict every form of legal immigration there is in the United States. He's fighting against family unification. He's fighting against the diversity visa lottery. He's fighting against almost every legal way people can actually legally enter this country, forcing them to become undocumented and then he's trying to attack their undocumented status."
Actually, President Trump brought back the catch-and-release program this summer, something conservatives were upset about but reunited children with their parents.
Ocasio-Cortez doesn't seem to understand that going after those who overstay their visas isn't "attacking their undocumented status." It means America is enforcing its immigration laws. Gee, what a concept, right? We know that the majority of illegal aliens are people who came here legally and overstayed their visas. That doesn't mean that we're not seeing an influx of illegal crossings at the border. Hello, where have you been, Alexandria? Did you miss the news about the Central American caravan traveling to the United States? Did you miss the news about some of them crossing illegally because their asylum applications weren't approved quick enough for their liking?
Calm down with the moral outrage and get real. Get the facts before you try making these emotional appeals that make Trump look like a monster, especially when they're full of fallacies.
WATCH: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez delivers impassioned response to President Trump’s address: “The president should be really defending why we are funding [ICE] at all … right now, what we are seeing, is death.” pic.twitter.com/4Al4GLWUvB
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) January 9, 2019
Join the conversation as a VIP Member