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AOC shows how to fight back and stand strong
Other Democrats, from Schumer to Hochul, should follow her lead.
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Democrats in recent weeks have struggled to figure out how to respond to Trump’s torrent of unconstitutional lawlessness. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries have been derided for their at times lackluster efforts to counter MAGA authoritarianism. Comedian Jon Stewart, for example, was deeply unimpressed when Schumer tried to illustrate the harms of Trump’s trade war by holding up a beer and an avocado. (Other late night hosts roasted him as well.)
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, however, has offered a more productive and inspiring approach. Earlier this month, she posted an almost hour-long webinar titled “Know Your Rights With ICE.” The video, in partnership with the Immigrant Defense Project, offers advice on how to handle interactions with ICE, and informs citizens, legal immigrants, and undocumented immigrants alike of their constitutional rights.
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AOC’s video — a fairly straightforward exercise in constituent services — enraged Tom Homan, Trump’s border czar/thug, who rushed to Fox News to threaten her with prosecution.
“It’s like AOC and others don’t want ICE to enforce the law that they enacted,” he said. “I’m working with the Department of Justice and finding out. Where is that line that they cross? So, maybe AOC’s gonna be in trouble now.”
Homan’s effort to use the power of the federal government to intimidate and silence political opponents is both dangerous and par for the course for the Trump administration. But it also demonstrates MAGA’s weakness.
For Homan, and Trump, free speech and solidarity are dangerous. Prominent figures standing up for immigrants and treating them as neighbors can undermine the climate of fear and xenophobia that ICE and MAGA rely on to impose terror. AOC’s stand for her constituents, and her public refusal to be intimidated, are models of resistance that other Democrats would do well to imitate.
Educating constituents about their rights
Homan’s comments suggest that it’s unusual and wildly irresponsible to inform immigrants of their constitutional rights. But of course it’s not. Numerous organizations like the ACLU and the National Immigrant Justice Center provide basic information about legal rights to immigrants and undocumented people.
AOC’s webinar advises people to talk to an attorney to determine their immigration status. It explains that ICE needs a warrant to enter a private home, and warns that ICE agents will often try to bully or intimidate people or lie in order to obtain consent to enter a residence when they do not have a warrant. It encourages people to demand that agents identify themselves (ICE agents will sometimes pretend to be local law enforcement), and explains that they should state they do not give consent in order to create grounds for legal challenges.
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Homan’s enraged response to the webinar inadvertently demonstrates that he believes that the Constitution and law are barriers to Trump’s policies of bigotry and terror.
“What she is, in fact, doing is telling people ‘don’t open the door, hide in your home, don’t talk to ICE,’” he fumed. Or, in other words, ICE cannot enforce its policies if it has to get warrants to enter homes, as the law requires.
Homan’s lawlessness also, of course, extends to his own efforts to threaten AOC, as the congresswoman was quick to point out.
Responding to a clip of Homan stumbling over his talking points on Newsmax, AOC posted on social media, “This is why you fight these cowards. The moment you stand up to them, they crumble. Homan has nothing.”
“The Fourth Amendment is clear and I am well within my duties to educate people of their rights,” she added. “He can threaten me with jail & call names all he wants. He’s got nothing else.”
