Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York was grilled by constituents at a chaotic Friday town hall over the war in Ukraine, the border, and other issues.
The event in Queens turned heated and chaotic, with at least two attendees being removed from the town hall held by the third-term congresswoman, who won her 2022 re-election bid with 71.3% of the vote. Ocasio-Cortez was grilled about the over $100 billion in aid the United States sent to Ukraine, according to Fox News.
“We’re on the verge of nuclear war. Are you going to stop this war?” one constituent asked Ocasio-Cortez. The New York representative was among a group of Democrats who signed a letter urging a negotiated settlement to the war in Ukraine in October 2022 that was later withdrawn after a backlash.
AOC was getting LIT up by her constituents, who are sick of her putting America LAST!
AOC town hall was a mess. pic.twitter.com/HGmiyICKsN
— Graham Allen (@GrahamAllen_1) May 27, 2023
“Stop funding this war,” one woman removed from the town hall said. “There’s a lot of communities that need help and need that money. I’m from that community.”
Other constituents, some of whom repeated a debunked claim that veterans were displaced from a hotel to shelter migrants, called out Ocasio-Cortez over the border.
“American citizens before migrants,” another constituent shouted as he walked toward Ocasio-Cortez, Fox News reported. “Where are you on the migrant issue? You’re a piece of shit.”
Over 1.2 million illegal immigrants have been encountered at the U.S.-Mexico border during fiscal year 2023, according to data released by United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP), following 2,378,944 encounters in fiscal year 2022 and 1,734,686 in fiscal year 2021, while Fox News reported that 600,000 migrants evaded CBP in fiscal year 2022.
Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York floated the idea of housing migrants in aircraft hangars at John F. Kennedy International Airport, which is located in Queens, Monday.
