Ocasio-Cortez on Border Crisis: ‘In Many Ways It Is Manufactured’

EXCERPT:

OCASIO-CORTEZ: “When I was asked to testify today, I frankly didn’t know where to begin after our visit to the border. Much has been made about the fact that we have said that this is a manufactured crisis. In many ways it is manufactured in that it is wholly unnecessary. It is unnecessary to separate children from their families. It is unnecessary to have a policy to detain innocent women and families that have harmed no person and are legally seeking asylum in the United States of America. It is unnecessary to have a policy that calls children unaccompanied when they arrive with older brothers, sisters, and grandparents, and treat them no differently than human traffickers. And in speaking of trafficking, it is completely unnecessary for this administration to choose to implement policies like metering and so-called ‘remain in Mexico’ policies that dump innocent people in dangerous territories that puts them right in the crosshairs of human traffickers ripe for picking. This is a manufactured crisis because cruelty — because the cruelty is manufactured. This is a manufactured crisis because there is no need for us to do this. There is no need for us to overcrowd and detain and under-resource. There is no need for us to arrest innocent people and treat them no differently than criminals when they are pursuing their basic human rights.”