Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ripped a state Democratic lawmaker for opposing a migrant shelter at Floyd Bennett Field — and then complained on social media that her fellow party member was serving as a witness for Republicans.
AOC was seen in a video lambasting Assemblywoman Jaime Williams, who does not want a shelter in her district and was speaking at a recent Congressional hearing on the migrant crisis.
“I didn’t hear in your testimony the alternative sites you advocated for,” the Democratic Socialist congresswoman asked Williams during the brief exchange posted on X under the heading “Republicans Have No Solution for Immigration.”
“I’m sorry. I only have 18 seconds. Which are the sites you proposed as an alternative.”
Williams responded, “I don’t have a proposal.”
Ocasio Cortez, looking miffed, pounds left her hand on the dais and said, “So, you don’t have a proposed alternative. No proposed alternative. No solutions here. No ideas here.”
“All I’m hearing right now is we’re not being met in the middle. No support. No path to citizenship. No identified alternatives. Just grievances.”
After AOC posted the video on X — formerly Twitter — one user shot back, saying “AOC is now attacking a Black immigrant woman for stating the obvious that Floyd Bennett Field should not be used for and is not an appropriate location for a shelter.”
AOC then responded, saying she was upset that Williams was at the hearing to help the GOP.
“The Assembly member chose to serve as the Republican party’s witness in today’s hearing. Perhaps it would be good to ask why!” she wrote on the social media site.
In her comments at the hearing, Ocasio-Cortez said President Biden and Democrats are working to authorize 500,000 work permits to asylum-seekers so they can support themselves and calling for comprehensive immigration reform.
She also urged a reassessment of US foreign policy so it isn’t contributing to destabilizing neighboring countries that fuels an exodus to the border.
“We need to get it together and make sure we’re getting on the right page. I’d like to see some actual functional alternatives,” the lefty fire brand representative said while dressing down Williams.
Williams later said that she wasn’t a Republican, and didn’t take kindly to AOC’s gotcha moment with her demand for the local lawmaker to come up with alternatives to how the migrant crisis was being handled.
“It’s not my responsibility to find global solutions to the problems we face. I’m not a Republican,” Williams said in response to AOC.
“But I am concerned about my community and our national park. We’re a residential community. I’m not going to get into a pissing contest with someone who I don’t even know.”
The exchange exposed divisions between the pro-sanctuary, pro-immigrant left and more conservative Democrats who complain the migrant shelters are negatively impacting their neighborhoods.
NY Democratic Party insiders said AOC’s posting of her criticism of Williams was a strategic hit and wondered whether she would back a Democratic primary opponent against the assemblywoman next year.
Protesters recently heckled AOC and other House members who toured the Roosevelt hotel mega-shelter in Midtown, saying President Biden should seal the border.
Williams’ represents the 59th Assembly district that includes the largely working and middle class neighborhoods of Canarsie, Flatlands, Georgetown, Mill Basin, Marine Park, Bergen Beach and Gerritsen Beach.
More than 130,000 asylum-seekers have arrived from the southern border to New York City since the spring of 2022 and about 60,000 are currently in the Big Apple’s care, many in 200 emergency migrant shelters across the city.