And MoveOn, the United States’ largest online progressive organization, has broken with House Democratic leadership and endorsed Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who is challenging New York Congressmember Joe Crowley. Crowley’s name is regularly floated as a potential speaker of the House, but he’s facing his first primary challenge in 14 years. Ocasio-Cortez is a 28-year-old community organizer. In a debate with Crowley on NY1, moderated by Errol Louis, Ocasio-Cortez called for the abolition of ICE—that’s the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. This clip begins with Crowley.
Rep. Joe Crowley: “Where this government is separating children from their mothers, it is antithetical to everything that I believe in, and that’s what I fight for every day.”
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: “And you know what? If this organization is as fascist as you have called it—”
Rep. Joe Crowley: “I’ve said it’s fascist.”
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: “And you have said it’s fascist. Then why don’t you adopt the stance to eliminate it? This is a moral problem. And your response has been to apply more paperwork to this situation, to have ICE collect more information on immigrants. And that puts our communities in danger. And it also conveys a profound misunderstanding of how we should be approaching this problem.”
That’s Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who is challenging New York Congressmember Joe Crowley in next Tuesday’s primary.