Sandy MaloneWashington, DC – Newly-elected U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) on Thursday called again for the abolishment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), just days after a member of MS-13 gunned down a rival gang member on a subway platform in her congressional district.
ICE has confirmed that the gunman is an illegal alien and has placed a detainer on the gang member for possible deportation, WABC reported.
Ocasio-Cortez vowed to defund ICE, according to FOX News.
“[ICE] do not deserve a dime until they can prove that they are honoring human rights, until they can make a good faith effort to expand and embrace immigrants… Until they can prove good faith to an American ideal, they do not deserve any resources for their radical agenda,” she said.
“We have to have respect for children, respect for families, respect for human rights, and respect for the right of human mobility,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
She also said that all Latinos should be considered legal in the United States because they are descendants of Native people, FOX News reported.
Ocasio-Cortez also preached the “right of human mobility.”
“Because we are standing on Native land, and Latino people are descendants of Native people. And we cannot be told and criminalized simply for our identity and our status,” she said.
“We are a nation and land of laws, not just [one where] some people are subject to laws and others are not,” the freshman congresswoman continued. “We are a land of laws.”
Her declarations were met with harsh criticism from Republicans, according to FOX News.
Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel accused Ocasio-Cortez of wanting to put the entire country at risk.
“Last year, ICE removed a Nazi from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s district. Her response: Abolish ICE,” McDaniel tweeted.
“This week, MS-13 murdered someone in her district. Her response: Abolish ICE,” she wrote.
President Donald Trump addressed the #AbolishICE movement in his State of the Union Address on Tuesday night.
The President defended the agency in his speech and promised “will never abolish our heroes from ICE.”
On Friday morning, Fox & Friends aired a segment that included the video of the MS-13 gang member shooting a rival six times on a Queens subway platform on Feb. 3.
“Now, if the only hope we have of kicking this guy out before he can kill somebody, shoot somebody, is ICE. And that’s what they do, to try and hunt them down. So you would think that maybe the people might be upset at ICE for maybe not getting there quick enough,” host Brian Kilmeade ranted, according to The Hill.
“But no, not her. Ocasio-Cortez after, I imagine, seeing this horror, is upset that ICE even exists. She cried about it. And you just watched these border negotiations, as you see this horrible scene going down,” Kilmeade said.
The New York representative responded on Twitter, and did not give an inch.
“Unlike these people, I actually care about my community. This happened across my old campaign office. We’ve been monitoring this heartbreaking situation and have been working with the community to heal. Meanwhile, ICE is detaining children, political activists & 21 Savage,” Ocasio-Cortez posted.