Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-MN) has called for a discussion on eliminating the existence of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) after claiming the agency terrorizes migrants.
Appearing as a guest on BET’s digital show, Black Coffee, Omar said, “We know that they have spoken in the most vile ways about immigrants. We know that they have certain views of what brown and black people deserve. And so we should be having a conversation about eliminating their existence [and] reforming the agencies that deal with the most vulnerable, who are children and women.”
Rep. Omar said Congress should considering eliminating border patrol agencies this AM.
She claimed "rogue agencies" have been terrorizing immigrants trying to cross the border. https://t.co/8yyEOgFACA pic.twitter.com/mM456iEiMB
— Charlie Hoffmann (@choffmann10) July 3, 2019
She continued, “We are continuing to allow for them to terrorize people who are running away from the most horrific circumstances, and that’s… inhumane and that can’t sit well with the American values we have … about dignity and humanity.”
Border Patrol agents have come under fire recently by Democrats, and reports have surfaced that Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) “screamed” at agents in a “threatening manner” during a recent visit to a Texas border facility.
One witness claimed, “She comes out screaming at our agents, right at the beginning [of the tour] … Crying and screaming and yelling. The agents, they wanted to respond, but they held back because she’s a congressional delegate. But when you have someone yelling at you in a threatening manner … They were like, ‘Hey, you need to kinda step back.’”
Speaking to reporters outside the facility, Ocasio-Cortez said “There’s abuse in these facilities…this was [CBP] on their best behavior and they put them in a room with no running water and these women were being told my CBP officers to drink out of the toilet. They were drinking water out of the toilet….this is CBP on their best behavior.”
However, when a reporter followed up asking if the Congresswoman actually witnessed anyone drinking from a toilet, the congresswoman conveniently rolled up her window and drove away:
Ocasio-Cortez on her CBP facility tour: “These women were being told by CBP officers to drink out of the toilet. They were drinking water out of the toilet”
Reporter: “Did you see somebody actually do that?”
AOC rolls up her window and refuses to answerpic.twitter.com/eovjpDfYgk
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) July 1, 2019
Last weekend, the New York Times published an op-ed which called for Americans to publicly shame Border Patrol agents into quitting their jobs.
Kate Cronin-Furman, an assistant professor of human rights at University College London, wrote in the Times, “The identities of the individual Customs and Border Protection agents who are physically separating children from their families and staffing the detention centers are not undiscoverable. Immigration lawyers have agent names; journalists reporting at the border have names, photos and even videos. These agents’ actions should be publicized, particularly in their home communities.”
The professor argues she was not in favor of “doxxing,” and just wants to expose the “midlevel functionaries who make the system run.”
“The knowledge, for instance, that when you go to church on Sunday, your entire congregation will have seen you on TV ripping a child out of her father’s arms is a serious social cost to bear. The desire to avoid this kind of social shame may be enough to persuade some agents to quit and may hinder the recruitment of replacements,” she writes.
“For someone who is ‘just following orders,’ the prospect of being internationally shamed as a rights abuser and being unable to travel freely may be significant enough to persuade them to stop participating.”
