'Those women and children trying to come here with nothing but the shirts on their back ... are acting more in an American tradition than this president is right now.'
Trump wasted nine minutes of America's time on Tuesday with a predictably racist, and surprisingly boring, prime-time speech about why Congress should throw $5 billion at his useless border wall before he'll agree to end the government shutdown.
But later on MSNBC, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York — who just became the youngest woman elected to Congress — gave a powerful interview that was the perfect antidote to Trump's stale racism.
It was authentic, personal, and passionate, and reminded Americans of the human stakes of Trump's racist grandstanding on immigration.
Ocasio-Cortez talked about her fellow restaurant workers who have fled the country in fear of Trump's hatred, and the damage that this does to communities. She called out the senseless cruelty, and even death, that happens routinely to people detained by ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement).
And she talked about the inspiring resilience of the people who risk everything to come to the United States and make a better life for their families.
"Those women and children trying to come here with nothing but the shirts on their back, to create an opportunity and to provide for this nation, are acting more in an American tradition than this president is right now," Ocasio-Cortez said.
Watch more of her interview here:
WATCH: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez delivers impassioned response to President Trump’s address: “The president should be really defending why we are funding [ICE] at all … right now, what we are seeing, is death.” pic.twitter.com/4Al4GLWUvB
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) January 9, 2019
Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.
