Amid Fear Of ICE Raids, AOC Urges Community To 'Know Our Rights'
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) – After little to no activity last weekend, undocumented immigrants on edge about potential ICE raids are getting advice from Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
At a town hall in Corona, Queens, this weekend, Ocasio-Cortez said she wants her communities to know what to do if immigration authorities come knocking.
"ICE has been documented and known to use manipulative tactics to get you to open the door," she said. "They'll say they have a warrant, but it's not a judicial warrant."
Ocasio-Cortez wants her constituents to remain silent and not open their doors.
Related: At Queens Town Hall, AOC Says Trump Policy About 'Ethnicity And Racism'
Ocasio-Cortez said she's been passing out literature advising the community about their rights.
She said she also wants people to record ICE agents if they see them.
"The moment you see or that you think you see ICE on a train or anywhere else, you take out your phone and you start recording. We have to do that. It has real consequences and results," she said.
Advocates for undocumented immigrants have been organizing across the country for a week, but so far they haven't seen any evidence of mass raids in big cities.
Outside of Ocasio-Cortez's town hall on immigration in Corona on Saturday, a few protesters like Thomas Zmich say America is hope of the free but that there's a way people should be coming into this country.
"You want to come to this country?" Zmich said. "Absolutely. We will welcome you legally. Legally welcome you. There is no problem with you coming legally."
Zmich said his grandparents were Polish immigrants a hundred years ago. He calls anyone who tries to dodge a port of entry today a criminal and that Ocasio-Cortez is helping them.
"She's giving out literature on how to avoid ICE and break the law of the United States government when they were ordered to leave. She is aiding and abetting the criminal element that is against this country, against the constitution and the court orders," he said.
ICE Raids