Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez rebuked White House border czar Tom Homan in a scathing retort following claims she was “impending” his deportation operations by informing citizens of their rights.
The immigration supremo threatened to refer the New York Democrat to the Justice Department for hosting a “Know Your Rights with ICE” webinar, and in a Friday town hall meeting she called his bluff.
“Tom Homan said he was going to refer me to DOJ because I’m using my free speech rights in order to advise people of their constitutional protections,” said Ocasio-Cortez, known as AOC. “To that I say: Come for me. Do I look like I care?”
She added that there’s “nothing illegal about it — and if they want to make it illegal, they can come take me.”
A potential 2028 presidential candidate, AOC said her office held the February webinar to educate immigrants on how to ask for ICE warrants, record searches, and how to understand their civil liberties. Homan questioned the legality of the event, suggesting that it would prevent the Trump administration from carrying out its mass deportation crackdown.
“I’m working with the Department of Justice and finding out. Where is that line that they cross? So maybe AOC is going to be in trouble now,” Homan said.
He also appeared on Fox News in February to urge Ocasio-Cortez to “read the statutes enacted by Congress … because it’s a crime to enter this country illegally.”
He blatantly added that the progressive New Yorker was “trying to teach them to evade law enforcement.”
Ocasio-Cortez, weary of his far-fetched jabs, hit back on X.
“Maybe he can learn to read,” she wrote. “The Constitution would be a good place to start.”
AOC during the town hall expressed outrage at the administration’s efforts to expel hundreds of people without due process.
“I don’t even want to call them deportations,” she said. “They are sanctioned kidnappings in many circumstances.”
She added: “They do not have carte blanche to enter. If they do want to knock on your door, or knock on anyone’s door—including your workplace—you can tell them, ‘Show me a warrant. Show me a judicial warrant.’”
Ocasio-Cortez, who has long been a fierce advocate of immigrant rights, added that if ICE doesn’t have a warrant “you have a right to turn them away.”
Her Friday comments come as Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers responded to Homan’s “chilling” suggestion that the Democrat could be arrested for issuing guidance to state employees on what to do when confronted by ICE.
When Homan was asked about Evers’ guidance Thursday, he gave an ominous answer.
“Wait ‘til you see what’s coming,” he said.
His comment came a week after the FBI arrested a Milwaukee judge over allegations that she helped a man evade immigration agents.
