EXCERPT:
OCASIO-CORTEZ: “Well we absolutely do need to make sure that our borders are secure, to make sure that people are safe in passage but what we need to realize and remember is that ICE was established in 2003 right at the same time as the Patriot Act, the Iraq war and we look back on a lot of that time and legislation as a mistake now. And I think that ICE is right there as a part of it, its extra judicial nature is baked in to the structure of the agency and that is why they’re able to get away with black — with black sites at our border and the separation of children. We are committing human rights abuses on this border in separating children from their families, and that, you know, is part of the structure of the agency. We can replace it and we can replace it with a humane agency that is directed towards safe passage instead of the direction of the criminalization.”
HARLOW: “What do you mean black sites? What do you mean --“
OCASIO-CORTEZ: “Pardon?”
HARLOW: “What do you mean by ICE black sites?”
OCASIO-CORTEZ: “Actually we’re just hopping off MSNBC and they were talking about it. Basically, what we have is that people are not able to access, even our own members of Congress are not able to access what is happening in these sites and that in and of itself, the secretive nature, and we know that children are being kept and that human abuse rights are happening without any sort of transparency or accountability, that is where we’re at right now. That is simply what is happening.”