Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez berated a female agent during a 2019 visit to a Border Patrol station in El Paso, Texas, according to government documents obtained by The Daily Signal through a Freedom of Information Act.
The Democratic congresswoman from New York told the agent that “I as a woman of color do not feel safe here,” according to an official memorandum that sums up Ocasio-Cortez’s comments.
Ocasio-Cortez was with 13 other House Democrats for a visit to the Processing Command Center of the federal government’s El Paso station that came during the tense and controversial period in which border officials separated children from adults, including their own family, after they illegally crossed the southern border.
Most of the House members in the delgeation were, like Ocasio-Cortez, part of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
The congresswoman also accused the Border Patrol agent of using her cellphone to take a photograph of herself with Ocasio-Cortez in the background.
An “agitated and animated”Ocasio-Cortez went on “to personally admonish and berate” the agent and to insist that “women cannot work with children,” according to Customs and Border Protection memos that were part of a Border Patrol investigation of the incident.
The details of what happened are contained in nine pages of documents regarding the visit of the congressional delegation.
Ocasio-Cortez tweeted later that day that a Border Patrol officer “attacked” her.
The agent denied the accusations, and the agent’s supervisor reviewed her cellphone and found no photos that included Ocasio-Cortez, according to one memo.
Two other Border Patrol agents also said they did not see their colleague take any selfies.
One memo states that “During the briefing, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez began loudly knocking on the window of the processing area and alleged that a Border Patrol Agent (BPA) was taking a ‘selfie’ photo of her," with another memo stating that “Ocasio-Cortez not only verbally voiced this concern, she became agitated and animated as she began to bang on the glass, pointing and screaming at the agent.”
Ocasio-Cortez wrote on Twitter the day after the visit that, “And to these CBP officers saying they felt ‘threatened’ by me - They were literally discussing making a GoFundMe for an officer who attacked my [sic] on my tour,”. “They confiscated my phone, and they were all armed. I’m 5’4”. They’re just upset I exposed their inhumane behavior.”
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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