Former U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcemen (ICE) Director Tom Homan on Friday expertly demonstrated how witnesses testifying before congress should handle hostile questions from far-left lawmakers like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).
When Cortez attempted to shame him over the child separation policy, Homan hit back hard, demolishing AOC’s arguments.
The former ICE director appeared on a panel before House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing titled, The Trump Administration’s Child Separation Policy: Substantiated Allegations of Mistreatment.
Ocasio-Cortez held up a memo signed by Homan that recommended several policy solutions to the immigration crisis at the border, including an initiative that would pursue prosecution of all adults, as well as those presenting with a family.
“Mr. Homan your name is in this, is this correct?” Ocasio-Cortez asked.
“Yes, I signed that memo,” Homan answered matter-of-factly.
“So you’re the author of the family separation policy?” she continued.
“I am not the author of this memo,” Homan answered. He explained that he’d only signed the memo and corrected AOC’s characterization of it as a “family separation” memo, calling it instead, a “zero tolerance memo.”
When Ocasio-Cortez pressed him about whether he had recommended the family separation policy to former DHS Secretary Nielsen, Homan shot back that he had given numerous recommendations on how to “secure the border and save lives.”
“The recommendation, of the many that you recommended, you recommended family separation,” Ocasio-Cortez pressed.
“I recommended zero tolerance,” he clarified.
“Which includes family separation,” she insisted.
“The same as it is with every U.S. citizen parent that gets arrested with a child,” Homan shot back.
Ocasio-Cortez had to think for a few seconds before she could continue.
“Zero tolerance was interpreted as the policy that separated children from their…”
“If I get arrested for DUI and I have a young child in the car, I’m gonna be separated,” interrupted Homan. “When I was a police officer in New York and I arrested a father for domestic violence, I separated that father from his home.”
“Mr. Homan with all due respect, legal asylees are not charged with any crime,” Ocasio-Cortez replied, repeating a favorite (but incorrect) left-wing talking point.
“When you’re in the country illegally, you’re in violation of 8 U.S. Code 1325,” he shot back quickly.
“Seeking asylum is legal,” Ocasio-Cortez responded slowly, clearly not happy with the way her Q and A session was going.
“If you want to seek asylum, go to a port of entry, do it the legal way. The attorney general of the United States made that clear,” Homan added, finishing the discussion.
“OK,” Ocasio-Cortez conceded curtly before moving on.
Hey @AOC, this is called getting OWNED pic.twitter.com/sjuYqhnEYg
— J F (@JFNYC1) July 12, 2019