After border czar Tom Homan questioned if Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is "impeding" the Trump administration's deportation efforts by informing people of their legal and constitutional rights, Ocasio-Cortez dared him to "come for me" for exercising her right to free speech.
In February, Homan claimed on Fox News that Ocasio-Cortez may have broken the law by hosting a webinar to inform immigrants of their constitutional rights during encounters with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Homan suggested that by educating immigrants about protections like the right to remain silent, the right to an attorney, and protection against unlawful searches, Ocasio-Cortez was âimpedingâ ICE arrests. In a separate appearance, he went further, accusing her of âtrying to teachâ people âhow to evade law enforcement.â
At a recent webinar, Ocasio-Cortez made it clear she is not backing down:
"When we first did one of these seminars, Tom Homan, then acting director of ICE, said he was going to refer me to DOJ because Iâm using my free speech rights in order to advise people of their constitutionally granted protections and he may want to do that again today and to that I say, come for me, youâre going to have to come for me. Do I look like I care?â
She also stressed how to âprotectâ each other in response to the Trump administration's policies:
âWe do it by exercising and using our constitutional rights. Our rights are, âuse it or lose it,â so we need to use it."
"And we need to challenge them so donât let them intimidate you into thinking that youâre doing something wrong by telling people what their actual legal constitutional rights are. Thereâs nothing wrong about it and thereâs nothing illegal about it.â
"And if they want to make it illegal, they can come take me. Thatâs how I feel about it.â
You can hear what she said in the video below.
Many applauded her remarks and condemned Homan in response.
Ocasio-Cortez's remarks came the same day that Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers pushed back against what he called âchillingâ remarks by Homan, who suggested Evers could face arrest for issuing guidance to state employees on how to respond if approached by federal immigration agents.
Critics on the right claimed the guidance amounted to an order not to cooperate with ICE â an accusation Evers firmly rejected. He said the intent was simply to provide âclear, consistent instructionsâ so employees could ensure they had legal support and complied fully with the law.
Evers accused Republicans of distorting the facts and fueling a âfake controversy of their own creationâ for political gain.