AOC challenges Trump's border czar Tom Homan over immigration: "Come for me" - Newsweek
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S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez hit back at Trump border czar Tom Homan on Friday after threats about referring her to the Department of Justice (DOJ) over advising people on immigration.
Newsweek reached out to the DOJ via online form Friday night for comment.
Why It Matters
Since his January 20 inauguration, President Donald Trump has implemented sweeping change, mainly through executive orders, and has prioritized immigration.
Trump announced the invocation of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, a wartime law that grants the commander in chief authority to detain or deport noncitizens. The implementation was blocked in federal court and has since sparked a contentious legal back-and-forth.
Homan is tasked with deportation efforts and has touted numbers on his social media that point to the Trump administration's work thus far in reducing border crossings.
What To Know
Ocasio-Cortez has made it a point to hit back at the Trump administration's immigration policies by speaking about them at rallies across the U.S.
On the congresswoman's website there is also a section about immigration, labeled "know your rights."
The website says in part that, "Our office is generally only able to provide immigration casework assistance to constituents who have open immigration cases. Specifically, our office can submit inquiries to federal agencies to follow up on the following applications and cases:
- Immigrant Visa Applications
- Non-Immigrant Visa Applications
- Asylum Cases
- Employment Authorization
- DACA and TPS Cases
- Citizenship, naturalization, and oath ceremony"
Reacting to Ocasio-Cortez's position of speaking out against the administration and helping constituents with immigration policy, Homan said she is helping people evade law enforcement.
The border czar has even called for U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and the DOJ to investigate lawmakers like Ocasio-Cortez and give him guidelines on what crosses the legal line.
In a Friday town hall in Jackson Heights in the Queens borough of New York City, Ocasio-Cortez took a swipe at Homan and the DOJ regarding their comments, saying, "When we first did one of these seminars, Tom Homan, then-acting director of ICE, said that he was going to threaten to refer me to the DOJ because I'm using my free speech rights in order to advise people of their constitutionally guaranteed protections. And he may want to do it again today. To that, I say, come for me. You're going to have to come for me."
The lawmaker added, "Our rights are use it or lose it. So, we need to use it. And we need to challenge them. So don't let them intimidate you into thinking that you're doing something wrong by telling people what their actual, legal constitutional rights are. There's nothing wrong about it, and there's nothing illegal about it. And if they want to make it illegal, they can come take me. That's how I feel about it."
Homan has worked under former President Barack Obama and Trump during his first term.
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez speaks at a town hall gathering on Friday in New York City. (Photo by David Dee Delgado/Getty Images)Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez speaks at a town hall gathering on Friday in New York City. (Photo by David Dee Delgado/Getty Images)
The nation has also been gripped by the deportation case of El Salvadoran nation Kilmar Abrego Garcia. The Trump administration accidentally sent Abrego Garcia back to his home country due to an "administrative error" after an immigration court said he was barred from returning over retaliation fears of rival gangs of MS-13.
The Trump administration has accused the 29-year-old Maryland man of being a member of the El Salvadoran gang, which has been designated a foreign terrorist organization.
His family denies any ties to gangs and Abrego Garcia has no criminal record in the United States. In 2021, his wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, accused him of domestic violence and filed paperwork to obtain a restraining order, but says they have since reconciled.
In an exclusive statement to Newsweek, Vasquez Sura said, in part: "Things did not escalate, and I decided not to follow through with the civil court process. We were able to work through the situation privately as a family, including by going to counseling."
What People Are Saying
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on X, formerly Twitter, in April: "Under the leadership of President Donald J. Trump, we have the most secure border in American history. In less than 100 days, daily border encounters are down 93% and migrant crossings are down 99.99% at the Darien Gap. The world is hearing our message: do not come to this country illegally. If you do, we will arrest you, deport you and you will not be allowed to return."
Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer of New York posted to X on Thursday: "The Trump administration is patently breaking the law, trying to use the Alien Enemies Act to deport people without due process. Americans reject this. The courts are taking them to task. We won't stop fighting for our Constitution."
What Happens Next
The Trump administration has petitioned the Supreme Court to take failed immigration cases in lower courts, most recently requesting that the High Court allow revocation of Temporary Protected Status for more than 300,000 Venezuelan migrants—which would clear a path for more deportations.
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Funny. The little bartender who could, daring anyone is stupidity—just fishing for unwarranted support.
Permission granted Mr. Homan.
Her and Bernie out on their [removed] [✘] for donations tour has been entertaining, please run her for president in 3 years.
Homan is yet another coward in this administration. These bullies want everyone to just shut up and comply with everything they want, no matter how absurd or illegal. He’s so afraid of people exercising their rights, he has to find some way to round them up and silence them.
Exactly what is Homan doing that is illegal?
Ain't it a bitch when U.S. citizens have to "exercise their rights" and can't, yet the ILLEGAL ALIENS have more rights - and they aren't being silenced.
Everyone within the confines of America has the same rights.
Illegals have the right to be deported for breaking US immigration laws.
Which all of them did the second they entered this country; and are still in violation of every day that they are here.
Brandon is no longer in charge of the country. Immigration laws (and our borders) are now being enforced. Democrats/leftists can't handle it that Trump has literally shut down the border to the lowest recorded levels ever; and illegals are flooding out of this country.
The "it can't be done crowd" has been proven wrong and is throwing a hissy fit by judge shopping at the federal district level.
The law applies to everyone equally now. Not just to whomever Brandon and TDS driven Democrats/leftists say it does.
Without due process, the law cannot apply equally.
Some here obviously have extreme difficulty with this concept, like those who voted up your erroneous statement. Your attitude can be summed up with the paraphrasing of the Animal Farm quote:
Oink.
Not exactly. Those here illegally have no right to vote (which is one reason why I consider voting to be a privilege, not a right, of citizenship), nor do they have authorization or a right to work here unless specifically offered under specific programs. That is clearly the law and being here outside of one of those programs is the very definition of an "illegal" or "undocumented" immigrant. AOC actually listed those specific circumstances on her website:
Those included in the programs she describes above certainly deserve due process under the law, but that does not include truly illegal or undocumented immigrants who are here outside of any of those programs. To the extent that AOC hires, assists in the procurement of false documents for the purpose of attaining work, harbors, protects, or shields from the INS or ICE those not included in this list, she could be found in violation of the law.
And where has she ever suggested she would do such a thing? Here is her quote above:
She does point out if they make sharing legal advice about people's rights is made "illegal" then you can come take her. From what I can tell reading the conservative viewpoints here there are many who would love to do just that because it's not about the law. It's about brown people invading what they see as "their America" and if Democrats are helping undocumented immigrants learn about and use the law to gain citizenship or to help them be able to remain in the US, then that must be stopped because that could continue to allow brown people into "their America" albeit legally.
Well she did hire an illegal immigrant as an aide and Deputy Communication Director who recently self-deported back to Columbia . If knowingly, then that would be a violation of the current immigration law just as it would be if any other employer knowingly hires an undocumented worker.
I agree that her webinar advising people of their rights within the confines of what is legal is fine, and certainly on its own no reason for legal scrutiny. The only borderline issue I saw with that is advising truly undocumented immigrants (those not here under one of the programs she specifically lists on her website) on how to avoid law enforcement. She will need to be careful with that.
I have not seen any news about whether Bondi has taken up a case against AOC based on Homan's request for legal advice on the matter. Have you?
How, exactly, is this determination made?
Good rundown on that in a 2022 report HERE :
I'm sorry, I guess that I should have phrased my question differently. Though your link defines what an undocumented person is, it does not state (though I may have missed it) who makes the determination and by what process?
There are individuals on this site of the opinion that the mere accusation of meeting any of the criteria listed on that page are guilty and should be deported without the benefit of due process findings. These people are, IMO, disturbed and not following the letter or the spirit of the Constitution. To put it more colloquially, they are just plain mean.
Mankind makes up lots of concepts. Sometimes these concepts can lead to good results and sometimes not. Borders, religion, money, are examples of these concepts. Politicians use these concepts to create issues to gain traction. The glaring incongruity that I see in the present aberration of an administration is the presentation of these concepts in an untruthful way (the economy was the worst it has ever been, other countries were emptying their prisons and mental institutions to send the people here,et.al.) to justify the policies that are sending the country from its position of preeminence to that of pariah.
Prove what they are doing is illegal?
The Supreme Court- even with the most wishy washy Chief Justice in history in Roberts sided with the Trump administration in removing illegals under the Alien Enemies Act. Unfortunately they will need to smack down every last over reaching federal district judge that has overstepped their authority on rulings that affect the whole US, not just their limited jurisdictions. Judge shopping by Democrats/leftists is sickening and illegal in it's own right. Judges who participate need to be removed from the bench permanently.
Was it illegal for Brandon to open our borders and let all of these unvetted illegals in? Was it legal for him to bypass the immigration process and fly unvetted illegals into this country- that didn't even meet the BS standards he put in place? Was it illegal for Garland to sue border states for enforcing their borders and our immigration laws; when those states bore the brunt of Brandon's "let them all in" debacle?
All we have heard was for the last 4 damn years is that US citizens and states don't have the right to enforce borders or federal immigration laws.
Yet here we have a bunch of sanctuary states/cities, elected officials, leftist judges (literally aiding and abetting and using lawfare at the district level), and their media enablers doing exactly that.
Well tough shit; because the laws now apply to everyone- and not just who Brandon, Garland, and a bunch of TDS driven morons say they do.
AOC is no different than than anyone else breaking the law by aiding illegals in circumventing it. She and other Democrats pulled this shit during Trump's first term- they need to be charged this time around.
The Trump administration has lost something like 135 court decisions on its actions just this year. Very often, to judges Trump appointed.
They did?
Do you check into the things you hear on cable news? Or just accept them? I wish Biden had done more on this issue, but Trump is no great prize, so far. It might interest you to know that the under the Biden administration, we deported 685,000 people last year . The Trump administration is only on pace to deport less than half a million.
The things that many of these conservatives apparently believe is truly insane and can only be explained by long term brain washing by rightwing media reinforced by their rightwing religious beliefs coupled with massive completely undeserved hubris.
The democrat left whining about due process are hypocrites, nothing more.
Hypocrites in what way?
2 days later they still have no answer...
Hypocrites for demanding something from trump that they didn't demand from their messiah, simple enough? i really didn't think it needed an explanation, i guess I was wrong.
You still offer no explanation. I suspect that’s because you don’t have one.
"To that, I say, come for me. You're going to have to come for me."
She probably thinks Homan wants to date her.
She is more like Stormy Daniels, there has to be a payday in it for her.
Ah, more of the same. That mouthy woman threatens [deleted] [✘] ideal, so let’s attack her on the basis of sex.
I find it truly comical that Trump supporters bash Stormy but not the guy who fucked her while his third wife was home with a new baby and then paid her six figures to keep her quiet during his campaign. If that had been a Democrat is there any doubt who would be getting the ire from Republicans? Hell, Stormy would be considered a sinner turned Saint that needs Republican protection if that were the case. Once the hypocrisy gets so massive, what else can you do but laugh at it.
So, because "She" said it, you actually believe that?
After all, as you say below - "'cause she's a woman"???
Stormy is a capitalist, I’m not bashing her, I’m just making a valid comparison between 2 women. Who knew the left had become so prudish.
Sure as hell can't attack her on the basis of having a brain.
How is it valid?
You don't actually still believe that Trump never had an affair with Stormy do you? Reeally? Really? I mean, that would take some serious intentional blindness not to accept that it happened. You can try and defend Trump claiming he didn't mean to hide the payoff money in his campaign account but it's really fucking hard to try and claim the affair never happened.
??? Where do I say that below?
That’s what you have to offer?
You can't tell?
but what will happen to all those empty parking lots AOC cries over if she's in jail?
Ha ha. Good one! /s
So far, every conservative comment I’ve seen on this seed just makes me think of the circus act administration. Same immature approach.
She's not going to sleep with you.
[✘]
AOC has a major advantage over MAGA Hats...
She is willing to whore herself out for donations?
Kamala Harris method?
Kamala did it for career advancement, AOC is just straight up capitalism.
All the while saying capitalism is a bad thing.
Oooh I get it! Cuz she’s a woman.
No, lots of women don’t have to whore themselves out to get ahead, Hillary didn’t, Schumer didn’t, Warren didn’t. Why do you think all successful women had to whore themselves out?
No, 'cause she's friggin' stupid.
You brought up whore. First thing you thought of. That’s how you responded to a woman with a voice.
So she should be called whore?
According to rightwing conservatives, any woman who doesn't stay at home barefoot in the kitchen popping out as many white conservative educationally allergic Christian babies as they can are "whores".
There are too many multi-syllable words in there for her to understand it.
So very pretty - and she still hasn't read it.
No, the point is that she has, and she gets it!
Did she read it between making drinks?