Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) visited migrant shelters in the El Paso area Monday and adamantly claimed that women were instructed to “drink out of toilets.” However, a recently surfaced photo shows what appears to be a basic detention center toilet unit with an attached sink and fountain, and an agent who was present at the time of the congresswoman’s visit added context to AOC’s remarks, casting doubts on her harrowing claims.
Ocasio-Cortez tweeted about her experience at the shelters Monday and made a number of distressing claims, accusing U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers of physically and sexually threatening her and claiming that migrants were instructed to drink out of toilets.
“Officers were keeping women in cells w/ no water & had told them to drink out of the toilets,” she tweeted. “This was them on their GOOD behavior in front of members of Congress”:
Just left the 1st CBP facility.
I see why CBP officers were being so physically &sexually threatening towards me.
Officers were keeping women in cells w/ no water & had told them to drink out of the toilets.
This was them on their GOOD behavior in front of members of Congress.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 1, 2019
Now I’ve seen the inside of these facilities.
It’s not just the kids. It’s everyone. People drinking out of toilets, officers laughing in front of members Congress.
I brought it up to their superiors. They said “officers are under stress & act out sometimes.” No accountability.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 1, 2019
However, Ocasio-Cortez has failed to prove her worrying claim. She did not say she actually heard an officer instruct migrants to drink out of a toilet, and when asked if she actually witnessed the action firsthand, she rolled up a car window.
Ocasio-Cortez on her CBP facility tour: “These women were being told by CBP officers to drink out of the toilet. They were drinking water out of the toilet”
Reporter: “Did you see somebody actually do that?”
AOC rolls up her window and refuses to answerpic.twitter.com/eovjpDfYgk
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) July 1, 2019
A photo has surfaced, showing a picture of the toilets commonly at migrant shelters “taken from court filings and other inspections of detention facilities,” according to Business Insider. They appear to be one whole unit– a toilet featuring a sink/fountain at the top.
Daily Mail’s David Martosko confronted Ocasio-Cortez over the photo on Twitter.
I haven’t seen photo of the Clint, TX facilities that @AOC described today, but it would be interesting if “drinking from the toilet” meant drinking from an attached sink marked “potable water” — like this image from a CBP holding facility in Tuscon (filed in federal court). pic.twitter.com/uDbhy1GPOa
— David Martosko (@dmartosko) July 1, 2019
Yeah. That would (or should) probably change the news reporting, if not the propaganda war. Anyone seen the inside of the Clint facility? Did @AOC take photos today? I’m genuinely curious.
— David Martosko (@dmartosko) July 1, 2019
I’m happy to be proven wrong, FWIW. But I can’t imagine CBP is buying more than one model of a standard jailhouse toilet-with-sink fixture.
— David Martosko (@dmartosko) July 1, 2019
The New York lawmaker responded and confirmed this was the style toilet she saw in a cell. However, she claims the one she saw did not have a functioning sink, although many people are questioning her methods of attempting to get the water to flow.
“PUSH to open the water flow,” one Twitter user wrote, attaching a picture of the unit’s specs.
This was in fact the type of toilet we saw in the cell.
Except there was just one, and the sink portion was not functioning – @AyannaPressley smartly tried to open the faucet, and nothing came out.
So the women were told they could drink out of the bowl. https://t.co/rcu9Rt6B2x
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 1, 2019
Martosko pointed out that Ocasio-Cortez was basing her claim on a story told by one of the migrants – not from an official. She, he argues, left out many key details, leading to confusion.
“Your tweets suggested you personally heard the guard tell them this today, but Rep. Chu said one of the women told you that story,” Martosko replied.
“Some reports suggest they were moved inside just today from outdoor tents, so it’s unclear how long they’d been in that cell. What did you witness?” he asked.
Another: “It’s not just the kids. It’s everyone. People drinking out of toilets, officers laughing in front of members [of] Congress.” That suggests you saw people drinking out of toilets while officers laughed in your presence. I’d like to know if that’s what happened.
— David Martosko (@dmartosko) July 2, 2019
A CBP agent present at the time of Ocasio-Cortez’s visit added much-needed context to the lawmaker’s “drinking out of toilets” narrative.
“So this is what happened with the migrant and drinking water from toilet: She wanted water, didn’t know how to use the faucet in the cell, and drank from the toilet,” the agent said, according to the Washington Examiner.
The agent reiterated that the woman never told the congresswoman that she was forced to drink out of the toilet bowl.
“She never told AOC that we made her drink from the toilet,” the agent added. “AOC, of course, changed it. This was when she [the migrant] was apprehended and brought into the facility.”
Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council, spoke to Breitbart News’ Rebecca Mansour and Joel Pollak on Breitbart News Tonight on SiriusXM Monday and dismissed Ocasio-Cortez’s claims.
“Nobody is forced to drink out of a toilet and nobody is told to drink out of a toilet,” Judd said. “Its completely and totally a baseless and ridiculous allegation and frankly it needs to be investigated and she needs to be exposed.”
