Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez slams fellow Democrats again over 'racist and false' immigration tropes
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has taken aim at Republicans and her fellow Democrats over their approach to immigration while coming to the defense of Rep. Ilhan Omar.
Ocasio-Cortez, R-N.Y., fired off a string of tweets early Wednesday morning, blasting both parties for making decisions based off “racist and false tropes” when it comes to migrants. The tweet barrage came in response to Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., criticizing Ocasio-Cortez ally Omar, D-Minn., and calling on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to remove the controversial Democrat from the Foreign Affairs Committee.
“If we’re so concerned about implied tropes, why aren’t we concerned about this one?” AOC wrote.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“Where was the concern last week when 26 Dems voted for a GOP amendment to expand ICE powers rooted in the racist + false trope that Latino immigrants are more dangerous than US born citizens?
“The entire PREMISE of a wall is not based in fact. It’s based in a racist + non-evidence based trope that immigrants are dangerous. Yet some Dems are willing to “compromise” & spend BILLIONS on a trope because we’ve accepted some kinds of racism as realpolitik in America.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}She continued: “None of this is ‘whataboutism.’ Racism and bigotry of all forms is inextricably linked.
“When you don’t address them as a system and attempt to pick them apart as though they are distinct and separable issues, eventually the thing that gets advanced is white supremacy + classism.”
OCASIO-CORTEZ SAYS SHE WAS NOT INVITED TO BERNIE SANDERS’ KICKOFF RALLY
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The tweets came after the socialist star drew heat from moderate Democrats over a reported warning she delivered during a closed-door meeting last week.
Ocasio-Cortez said fellow Dems who vote with Republicans are “putting themselves on a list” -- a comment interpreted as a primary challenge threat.
Ocasio-Cortez has since downplayed her comments, made in the wake of more than two dozen Democrats joining Republicans to vote for a provision requiring Immigration and Customs Enforcement to be notified if illegal immigrants attempt to purchase guns.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}MODERATE DEMS FUME OVER OCASIO-CORTEZ 'LIST' THREAT
Still, some House Democrats aren’t happy with her talk of a “list.”
“I don't think it's productive,” Michigan Rep. Dan Kildee said Saturday on Fox News’ “Cavuto Live.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}He added, “I don't think we should be interfering with one another's politics. The people who elected us get to make those choices.”
New Jersey Democratic Rep. Josh Gottheimer, a co-chairman of the Problem Solvers Caucus, said Ocasio-Cortez’s use of the word “list” was “Nixonian.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Ocasio-Cortez later claimed she wasn’t talking about a list for primary challenges.
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“I didn’t say that they were putting themselves on a list for primaries," Ocasio-Cortez tweeted. "I said that by Dems distinguishing themselves by breaking off on procedural…votes, they were inadvertently making a list of targets for the GOP and for progressive advocates on their pro-ICE vote.”