Rising Democratic star Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has called for abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Now Republicans are pointing out that the deportation agency just removed a notorious Nazi from her “backyard.”
Jakiw Palijj, the last known World War II Nazi living in the U.S., was deported to Germany early Tuesday morning, in a move Trump administration officials repeatedly stressed was carried out by ICE.
The agency has been under fire from left-wing activists and some Democratic politicians, who have demanded it be abolished. Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, who has become a star in Democratic politics after winning a primary to unseat longtime Rep. Joe Crowley from his New York district, is one of those attacking ICE.
The Republican National Committee said Tuesday that was noteworthy because Palij had been living for decades in Queens, in the district she is trying to win.
“Now that ICE has literally removed a Nazi from her backyard, where does Ocasio-Cortez stand?” RNC operative Michael Ahrens said in an email to reporters.
Ms. Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign didn’t respond to a request for comment but the candidate took to Twitter to say that abolishing ICE doesn’t mean she would stop deportations — the chief function of the agency.
Ms. Ocasio-Cortez also said she has “no problem saying white supremacy has no place in this country. It’s the GOP that struggles to say that.”
The Trump administration has stepped up its defense of ICE in recent weeks, counting on the issue to be a deciding one for voters in November’s election.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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