If “Squad” Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) follows through on her latest anti-Trump pledge, she could face arrest, a spokeswoman from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security warned. Tricia McLaughlin, the DHS assistant secretary for public affairs, told Fox News viewers on Monday that the Bronx Democrat would be arrested if she engages in “the same kind of stunt” as other Democratic politicians who have recently interfered with U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement in their efforts to house illegal immigrants suspected of violent crimes.
“If she trespasses and if she assaults law enforcement officers, as we saw earlier, I think that’s certainly on the table. As far as we’ve heard, a lot of Democrats make the argument that they’re just conducting oversight, congressional oversight,” McLaughlin said on ‘The Bottom Line.” On Sunday, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez posted a video selfie on Instagram reacting to the news that federal officials had arrested Ras Baraka, the Democratic mayor of Newark, New Jersey. Baraka was detained after a tense confrontation with ICE agents outside an immigration facility when he was denied entry.
Alina Habba, the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, confirmed Baraka was taken into custody after he “committed trespass and ignored multiple warnings from Homeland Security Investigations to remove himself from the ICE detention center.” DHS officials later described a chaotic scene in which Baraka joined riot instigators attempting to “storm” the gates of the facility, which led to a physical confrontation. Also present at the scene were Democratic New Jersey Reps. Rob Menendez Jr. (D-NJ), Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ), and LaMonica McIver (D-NJ).
“We know that’s baloney because had they asked us, had they requested a tour, David, we would have happily facilitated that for them as well,” McLaughlin said. “There are public guidelines that we have offered, including that they need to notify us 24 hours in advance if they would like a tour of the facility. So, again, this is all political gamesmanship, and we’re not playing with the safety of our law enforcement officers.”
Coleman later stated that the lawmakers were on-site to “exercise their oversight authority” and were eventually “escorted” in. In her video, however, AOC threatened a “problem” for ICE and DHS agents if they “lay a finger” on “Coleman or any of the representatives,” the Daily Caller reported. “You lay a finger on Representative Bonnie Watson Coleman or any of the representatives that were there, you lay a finger on them, and we’re going to have a problem.”
One day after Baraka’s arrest, the immigration agency released bodycam footage capturing a tense exchange between both sides. In a statement, ICE accused McIver of “assaulting an ICE agent.” McLaughlin also defended the practice of housing illegal immigrants at the Delaney Hall facility, stating that those detained are suspected or convicted of serious crimes, including “rapists, child predators, MS-13 gang members, and even suspected terrorists.”