Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Describes Tour Of Detention Centers As ‘Haunting’
While touring detention facilities in Texas, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted out to her millions of followers on social media what she witnessed — and how disgusted she was with the treatment of migrants at the hands of Customs and Border Patrol officials.
On Monday, it was reported that CBP officials, some retired and some currently serving, had created a secret Facebook group in which they derided Ocasio-Cortez with lewd statements, while also making what some may consider to be racist comments toward immigrants, the Boston Globe reported.
CBP is reportedly opening up an investigation into the existence of the Facebook group.
Just after she left one of the detention centers, AOC tweeted out what she saw, and connected it to the secret CBP Facebook group.
“Just left the 1st CBP facility. I see why CBP officers were being so physically & sexually threatening towards me,” she wrote. “Officers were keeping women in cells w/ no water & had told them to drink out of the toilets.”
Just left the 1st CBP facility.
I see why CBP officers were being so physically &sexually threatening towards me.
Officers were keeping women in cells w/ no water & had told them to drink out of the toilets.
This was them on their GOOD behavior in front of members of Congress.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 1, 2019
Rep. Judy Chu, who was part of the members of Congress who were touring the facilities, confirmed Ocasio-Cortez’s comments in a separate social media posting.
Lawmakers were touring the centers in El Paso and Clint, Texas.
Ocasio-Cortez added that women described to her the ways in which they were abused, being woken up “at odd hours for no reason,” being likened to prostitutes and described in other demeaning ways, she said.
The maltreatment of migrants is “not just the kids,” but “everyone,” Ocasio-Cortez added in subsequent tweets. “People [were] drinking out of toilets,” she added, and “officers [were] laughing in front of members of Congress.”
Ocasio-Cortez said she brought up the cruel ways in which people were being treated to the agents’ superiors. “[The superiors] said ‘officers are under stress & act out sometimes.’ No accountability,” she stated.
Now I’ve seen the inside of these facilities.
It’s not just the kids. It’s everyone. People drinking out of toilets, officers laughing in front of members Congress.
I brought it up to their superiors. They said “officers are under stress & act out sometimes.” No accountability.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 1, 2019
In another tweet, Ocasio-Cortez described ways in which detainees, women in particular, feared retribution from CBP agents.
What’s haunting is that the women I met with today told me in no uncertain terms that they would experience retribution for telling us what they shared.
They all began sobbing – out of fear of being punished, out of sickness, out of desperation, lack of sleep, trauma, despair.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 1, 2019
As prior reporting from HillReporter.com noted, Ocasio-Cortez recently faced harsh criticism from conservative voices for describing the conditions at these detention centers as being akin to “concentration camps.”
Several individuals said that the Congresswoman had improperly evoked Nazi imagery, although she had never mentioned Nazis or World War II in her previous comments. Historians familiar with the term, too, confirmed that AOC’s use of the words “concentration camps” was appropriate to describe the detention centers for migrants on the U.S. southern border.