Border czar Tom Homan suggested Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is being investigated by the Department of Justice (DOJ) for potentially impeding immigration enforcement law.
Ocasio-Cortez hosted a live webinar on Wednesday advising migrants in her congressional district about their rights if they come into contact with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents looking to deport them.
“Impediment is impediment in my opinion,” Homan told Fox News, as he questioned whether her behavior was “crossing the line.”
Newsweek contacted the office of Ocasio-Cortez and the DOJ for comment via email outside of normal office hours.
Why It Matters
Trump made strict immigration measures a core component of his return to the White House. Along with carrying out mass deportations, his second administration has vowed to prosecute anyone who impedes their immigration enforcement operations.
What to Know
The “Know Your Rights With ICE” virtual event was streamed live on Ocasio-Cortez’s Facebook page, providing migrant viewers with information on handling ICE search requests if officers arrive at their homes or workplaces.
The 54-minute live stream was designed to inform migrants living in Ocasio-Cortez’s 14th District, which encompasses areas of Queens and the Bronx, of their rights.
“Believe it or not, in America EVERYONE has rights,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote on X on Thursday, sharing a guide on the legal rights that undocumented immigrants have.
Homan criticized the event and questioned whether it constituted obstruction of immigration enforcement. He claimed to have contacted the DOJ for clarification on whether Ocasio-Cortez’s actions could be considered unlawful interference.
“I sent an email to the Deputy AG today…at what level is that impediment,” Homan said.
“Is that impeding our law enforcement efforts. If so, what are we going to do about it? Is she crossing the line, I’m working with the DOJ to find out. Maybe AOC is going to be in trouble now,” he added.
AOC fired back and told the nation’s top immigration official to read the U.S. Constitution.
“MaYbe shE’s goiNg to be in TroUble nOw” Maybe he can learn to read. The Constitution would be a good place to start,” she wrote on X.
Was the Webinar for Migrants Illegal?
Hosting Know Your Rights seminars for migrants to deal with ICE is not illegal in the United States. In fact, providing legal education, including informing individuals of their constitutional rights, is protected under the First Amendment, which is freedom of speech.
Newsweek understands that other Democrat members of Congress have hosted similar seminars in their districts.
These typically cover essential rights, including the right to remain silent, the right to refuse consent to a search, and what to do if ICE arrives at a home, workplace, or public space. They also provide guidance on how individuals can seek legal assistance to protect themselves and navigate immigration-related encounters effectively.
Many organizations, including the ACLU, immigrant rights groups and legal aid societies, routinely conduct Know Your Rights training to help migrants understand their legal rights. As long as these sessions do not involve harboring undocumented individuals or obstructing law enforcement operations, they are entirely legal.
Experts note that while sharing general information is lawful, actively advising individuals to evade law enforcement could potentially raise legal concerns.
The implications of alerting others to potential ICE activity depend on how the information is shared. According to Bennett Gershman, a professor at Pace University’s law school, free speech protections allow residents to discuss law enforcement in their neighborhoods. Language that actively encourages evasion of authority could be construed as obstruction of justice.
Gershman told Newsweek that saying: “I hear that the ICE agents may be coming around,” is generally protected, whereas posts suggesting that individuals hide or flee might increase the risk of legal consequences if the government views them as interfering with an active operation.
“I think it’s important to be very explicit on what is being communicated,” he said. “The words ‘tips’ or ‘warnings’ might readily be seen as an obstruction of justice and make the tipster subject to criminal liability. I suppose saying something more generally, like, ‘I hear that the ICE agents may be coming around our neighborhood soon,’ or something that doesn’t sound like a warning or a tip might be more defensible, even though the person speaking might mean it as a warning.
“In any case, there is the frightening possibility that people thinking they’re doing the right thing and the humanitarian thing in trying to protect friends and neighbors from getting arrested might themselves wind up in jail.”
What People Are Saying
Genia Blaser, of the Immigrant Defense Project, said: “Just because someone ends up on ICE radar and ICE believes that they can deport someone, it doesn’t mean that under the law the person can be deported or that they don’t have the option to fight their case to remain in the U.S.”
“And even if during an encounter with ICE, what they’re doing doesn’t feel legal, or it doesn’t feel fair, it’s important to know that everyone has rights during their encounters with ICE,” Blaser said. “Everyone has rights regardless of their immigration status in the United States.”
What Happens Next
The DOJ has not yet commented on whether it will investigate Ocasio-Cortez’s webinar, but legal experts widely agree that Know Your Rights sessions are not illegal. Given the constitutional protections for free speech and legal education, any potential case against Ocasio-Cortez would likely face significant legal hurdles.
If the DOJ does proceed with an investigation, it would need to establish that her webinar actively obstructed ICE operations rather than merely provided information. This would be a difficult threshold to meet, given longstanding legal precedents protecting the right to share legal knowledge.
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