Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) blasted far-left Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) on Wednesday for her unequal reactions to the border crisis under former President Donald Trump and the current, far worse border crisis under President Joe Biden.
Graham underscored Ocasio-Cortez’s glaring absence when it comes to the current border crisis, in contrast to her persistent tweeting and highly-publicized border visit in 2018.
“Where is AOC?” the senator asked.
“Most Republicans want to make sure that we deal fairly with those who’ve been here a long time but we address the underlying problems of legal immigration,” Graham told reporters Wednesday. “That’s not an unreasonable request.”
“There used to be Democrats that understood to get legalization on the table, you had to address the underlying causes of illegal immigration,” he continued. “Those voices have been silenced. The open borders crowd is now firmly in control of immigration.”
“Where is AOC?” Graham asked. “Why aren’t you at the border looking at the things being reported. If you were worried about children under Trump being in bad conditions, this is worse. If you’re worried about people having COVID outbreaks, this is the biggest COVID spreader in the entire country. So where are you?”
In 2018, AOC was the subject of photoshoot outside a migrant facility many criticized as feeling staged and politicized. The congresswoman also notably described migrant facilities under Trump as “concentration camps.”
During the Biden migrant crisis, however, Fox News has identified only two relatively mild tweets from the congresswoman commenting on the matter.
As noted by The Daily Wire, soon after Biden took office, the president did away with Trump-era Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), which hold foreigners who tried to enter the U.S. illegally in Mexico camps while they await hearings. Instead, the Democrat returned to a so-called “catch-and-release” policy in which illegal migrants are allowed to enter the United States.
“Suddenly, the flow of foreigners to the border exploded,” The Daily Wire detailed. “Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents apprehended nearly 100,000 people at the border in February. Last April, just more than 16,000 were captured at the border, according to Pew data.”
There are an estimated 7,700 children in the care of the Department of Health and Human Services at the U.S.-Mexico border, according to Newsweek.
The Daily Wire reported Monday that an internal leaked document from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) revealed that nearly 1,000 child migrants have been kept in border detention facilities for longer than 10 days, which is far longer than the 72-hour maximum amount of time children are supposed to be housed in Customs and Border Protection (CBP) custody.
The crisis, however, has been largely under the radar in the mainstream press until this weekend via leaked images. The Biden administration has reportedly put what’s effectively a “gag order” on Border Patrol agents with the media, according to sources.
The Biden administration has denied the “gag order” reports.
WATCH:
Sen. Lindsay Graham: "Where is AOC? Why aren't you at the border looking at the things being reported. If you were worried about children under Trump being in bad conditions, this is worse." pic.twitter.com/woS9t1DPuD
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) March 24, 2021
Related: AOC, Known For Photos Outside Trump-Era Migrant Camp, Quiet During Biden Migrant Crisis