In a recently unearthed clip from a congressional hearing during Trump’s first administration, Tom Homan, who was then working as the ICE director, clashed with Squad member Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) over his “zero-tolerance” policy, which she claimed was leading to the separation of children from their parents.
For context, Homan courageously defended the policy, comparing it to domestic situations, such as when abusive parents are separated from their children, and noted that illegal border crossing violates U.S. Code 1325.
Starting her theatrical diatribe, the woke NY Democrat stated, “So we as members of the United Nations signed on to an international human rights agreement, saying very clearly that family separation is a violation of international human rights, and we pursued a policy that violates human rights. You know, Mr. Chair, I was looking, how did we get to this point?”
Answering her own question, AOC kept going. She noted, But where did this start? ….we found a memo dated back to April 23, 2018, where there was an official recommendation to ‘Pursue prosecution of all amenable adults who cross our border,’ illegally.”
Adding more details on the document, the Democrat said, “This initiative would pursue prosecution of all amenable adults, including those presenting with a family unit. Mr. Homan, your name is on this. Is this correct?” Homan honestly answered, “Yes, I signed that memo.”
After she noted that Homan signed the recommendation, she began to attack Homan for his common-sense recommendation. The woke congresswoman whined, “But it says here that you read, you gave her numerous options, but the recommendation was option three, family separation.”
Defending himself from these baseless allegations, Homan answered, “I’m saying this is not the only paper where we’ve given the secretary numerous options to secure the border and save lives.” However, the woke Democrat jumped in, saying, “And so the recommendation of the many that you recommended, you recommended family separation.”
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Refusing to be cowed by AOC’s aggressive rhetoric, Homan interjected, “I recommend a zero-tolerance … the same as is whatever US citizen, parent gets arrested when they’re with a child.” Building on this argument, the ICE head noted, “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.”
Thinking she’d outsmarted Homan, Rep. Cortez said, “Mr. Homan, with all due respect, legal asylees are not charged with any crime.” Using facts to shut down the woke Democrat, the ICE director noted, “When you’re in the country illegally, it’s a violation of United States Code, 1325.”
Watch the clip here:
In a vain attempt to claw back the upper hand, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez whined, “Seeking asylum is legal.” Replying with his signature dogged determination, Homan answered, “If you want to seek asylum and go to the port of entry. Do it the legal way. The Attorney General of the United States made that clear.”
Featured image from embedded video