Video from a past congressional hearing shows former ICE Director and incoming border czar Tom Homan shutting down Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) with facts about illegal immigration. President-elect Donald Trump selected Homan to serve in his incoming administration and secure the border, bringing attention to his “zero-tolerance” policies regarding illegal immigration.
As background, the clip shows Homan before a congressional hearing that took place under Trump’s first presidency at a time of Democratic outrage over families being separated when they were detained for illegally entering the United States. However, as AOC attempted to grill Homan for the separation policies that supposedly violated human rights, the former ICE director shut her down with facts.
As the progressive “Squad” member was blasting the “zero-tolerance” agenda, Homan confidently interjected to provide necessary perspective. “If I get arrested for DUI and I have a young child in a car, I’m gonna be separated. When I was a police officer in New York and I arrested a father for domestic violence, I separated that father from the family,” he told AOC.
Ocasio-Cortez shot back, “Mr. Homan, with all due respect, legal asylees are not charged with any crime.” Citing United States law, Homan reminded AOC that, whether seeking asylum or not, failing to enter the United States through a legal port of entry is a crime. “When you’re in the country illegally, it’s violation eight United States Code, 1325,” Homan said, pulling out the exact legal code.
In seeming disregard for Homan’s statement, AOC maintained, “Seeking asylum is legal.” Homan then doubled down, “If you want to seek asylum and go to the port of entry. Do it the legal way.” At this point, the New York Democrat was appearing to grow frustrated with Homan, who continually refuted her arguments with United States law. “The Attorney General of the United States and made that clear,” he added.
For years, this clip has spread around social media, drawing various reactions from users. Arguing that Ocasio-Cortez was missing the essential details Homan was bringing to the discussion and focusing on erroneous details, one user commented on the clip, “One word comes to mind when listening or watching AOC. Persnickety.”
“The best part, whe. He actually applies facts and logic, the domestic violence and the DUI examples … @AOC interrupts him so she can hit her talking points. Zero interest in actually having a conversation. Just complete grandstanding. What a joke,” another person said. Another comment read, “How lawless r these people? all for political theatre & votes, perhaps? they do not respect the laws of the country the rep, yet they want (and GET) votes to hold the positions they do. they have turned the DNC into a circus of emotions & identity politics #WalkAwayFromDemocrats
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“I watched a couple hours of this. Tom Homan kicked butt many times & they tried to ask him questions that made him look bad but he wasn’t falling for it or having it. It was wonderful,” another person stated, praising Homan’s ability to navigate the attacks from congressional Democrats.
Watch a clip from the congressional hearing below:
Note: The featured image is a screenshot from the embedded video.