Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) criticized the U.S. government for contributing to the conditions Central American migrants are fleeing from in an interview Tuesday.
Ocasio-Cortez told New York-based radio show “Ebro in the Morning” she and fellow progressives in Congress have been advocating for tighter restrictions on arms deals involving the U.S.
“This is like the whole thing with Iran-Contra,” she added, referring to the 1980s political scandal in which members of the Reagan administration secretly sold arms to Iran to fund the Contras, anti-government rebels in Nicaragua after Congress banned further funding to the insurgents.
{mosads}The Reagan administration, Ocasio-Cortez added, also saw a flood of migrants to the U.S.-Mexico border.
“This has never been about undocumented immigrants,” she said, adding that when Trump told her and Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), all of whom are U.S. citizens, “you show your hand.”
Host Ebro Darden also noted a report in which Trump allegedly questioned why the U.S. wasn’t seeing more Swiss and Swedish immigrants. “Well, bro, because we haven’t destabilized their countries,” he responded.
“And also they have single-payer health care, they have living wages,” Ocasio-Cortez added.