AOC has come under fire on X after she gave listeners potentially illegal advice, violating a statute of the United States Constitution and defying Tom Homan, President Trump’s “Border Czar” and one of the key figures working to resolve the border crisis.
For context, in a February 28, 2025, interview with NPR’s Steve Inskeep, AOC ripped into the Republican Party, described Democrats as moving through the stages of grief after President Trump’s victory, and defended her highly controversial “know-your-rights” forum, in which she gave legally dubious advice to illegal aliens.
In the NPR interview, host Steve Inskeep asked AOC to describe the current state of the Democratic Party, asking if Rep. Ocasio-Cortez believed that the left was “on the defensive.” AOC gave a predictably obtuse response, saying, “I think we’ve moved through shock. I think we’ve moved through dismay. I think we’ve moved through the five stages of grief.”
Continuing, AOC insisted that the Republican Party is currently making “certain large errors,” going on to criticize President Trump’s policies, saying, “They also directly appeal to very specific pockets of people who tend to be working class, and that creates a permission structure, right? You toss a crumb to us, and you give the farm to the big fish.”
Attempting to get AOC back on track, Inskeep asked the representative about the rationale behind her recent immigration-focused online forum, which was the crux of a debate between Rep. Ocasio-Cortez and Tom Homan. In response, AOC defended herself, saying, “I was informing all of my constituents of their constitutional protections and, in particular, their Constitutional protections against illegal search and seizure in the United States.”
Playing the Devil’s advocate, Inskeep explained President Trump’s Border Czar’s criticism of AOC’s forum, clarifying to AOC, “Homan was upset, I suppose, because he felt that you were giving advice to people who were here illegally. Were you?” Responding, AOC said, “I was giving advice to all of my constituents, yeah.”
AOC’s brazen admission of giving out potentially illegal advice online drew ire from X user Matt Van Swol, who clarified that AOC’s statements were in violation of a Constitutional statute: “Harboring or Encouraging Illegal Presence, 8 U.S.C. § 1324.” He wrote, “If AOC’s advice is specific enough, it’s a crime under this statute.”
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This X post became a hotbed for discussion of the dubious statements made by AOC. One user with the handle Yeticus Maximus commented, “Are all her constituents illegal? Then we have voter fraud and voter ID issues. Sounds about right for NYC.” Another commenter simply wrote, “Why does she think illegals are her constituents?”
Watch AOC’s NPR interview:
Featured image credit: screenshot from the embedded video