New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D) said in an interview published Wednesday that President Joe Biden’s weakest issue is immigration.
Ocasio-Cortez made the remarks in an interview with The New York Times. In the interview, the Times claimed that families are being separated at the border and that the influx of migrants is growing exponentially because Biden “kept Trump-era policies” in place.
“Immigration is arguably this administration’s weakest issue,” Ocasio-Cortez said in response.
“This is one area where our policy is dictated by politics, arguably more so than almost any other. There are very clear recommendations and suggestions that we have made to the administration to provide relief on this issue, and it’s my belief that some of the hesitation around this has to do with a fear around just being seen as approving or providing permission structures, or really just the Republican narratives that have surrounded immigration,” she claimed. “We also need to examine the root causes of this migration and address that this problem doesn’t start at our border, but it starts with our foreign policy.
In a follow-up question, the Times pressed AOC about why she hasn’t visited the border during Biden’s tenure as president.
“Why haven’t you used your considerable clout as a Latina leader to visit the border and highlight the ongoing issues there now, like you did during the Trump administration?” the Times questioned.
“Well, this is something that we’re actively planning on. What I have done is tours of our New York-area facilities. Right now, this crisis is in our own backyard, and we have toured the Roosevelt Hotel, and I think it’s been very important for us to — especially to my constituents, who are demanding accountability on this — to look at that front line that is right here in New York City,” Ocasio-Cortez said. Townhall previously reported that Texas began busing migrants to New York City to share the burden of the border crisis.
The Times mentioned that illegal immigration is a “real crisis” and that “a lot of New Yorkers don’t like it.”
“Sixty-two percent of registered voters in New York City, one poll found, support relocating migrants to other parts of the state. You’ve said New Yorkers would welcome migrants, but they’re actually protesting. Have you misread your constituents’ feelings about this?” the publication asked Ocasio-Cortez.
“I don’t think so,” the lawmaker retorted. “I think that we’re still willing, but what we need is partnership from the federal government. And I have not been shy around criticism of how the Biden administration has handled this issue.”
AOC then claimed that NYC is the “front line on [the border crisis],” failing to mention that border states like Texas, which are actually on the front line, have dealt with the border crisis for years.
Townhall reported how the same poll found that more than 80 percent of voters in New York state say that the influx of illegal immigrants is a “serious problem.” Only 31 percent of respondents said they approve of how New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) is handling the migrant influx. When asked about the Biden administration’s handling of the migrants coming to New York, only 34 percent approve.
“New Yorkers — including huge majorities of Democrats, Republicans, independents, upstaters and downstaters — overwhelmingly say that the recent influx of migrants to New York is a serious problem for the state,” poll spokesperson Steven Greenberg said in a statement to Politico. "More than three-quarters of Republicans and 60% of independents say New Yorkers have done enough and must now slow the flow of migrants to the state, rather than accept and help assimilate them into New York, while Democrats are evenly divided.”
A June Harvard/Harris poll found that immigration is a top-two concern of voters, more than inflation and rising crime rates.
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