A town hall hosted by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez erupted into disarray Friday when her constituents began yelling at her and one another.
“American citizens before migrants,” shouted a man grasping small American flags and wearing a T-shirt with the Cuban flag as he walked toward the New York Democrat amid boos from others during the Queens event.
“OK,” Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, said on a stage in a Queen’s auditorium as she laughed him off, and he was escorted out of the room. However, other protesters interrupted the town hall as it continued.
The raucous town hall, captured by online outlet Freedom News TV, showed shouting matches springing up between constituents over the Congresswoman’s support for legislation that funds more weapons systems in Ukraine, her stance on illegal immigration and her support for raising the debt ceiling.
At one point, she discussed her support for President Biden invoking the 14th Amendment to unilaterally raise the debt ceiling so that the debt limit can be abolished.
“The president has come out saying that he also believes he has this authority. He has said that he is not sure he can implement the authority in time for the June 5th deadline, so that is where we see kind of this impasse,” she said.
She said, “I still believe, first of all, that we should start to implement it anyway because we should eliminate the debt limit in the United States,” a comment which attracted boos and cheers from the crowd.
“I don’t like that Republicans passed a $1.7 trillion tax cut on the wealthiest people in this country,” she added.
Some of her constituents began yelling about her support for funding the war between Ukraine and Russia.
“$100 billion for Ukraine that you voted for!” one man shouted at her following her debt ceiling remark.
One angry man yelled at those who responded to the Congresswoman’s remarks about the debt ceiling, “It is not your turn! How about you wait your turn.”
While some were led out of the room following critical remarks of the New York Democrat, including a woman who yelled, “Stop funding this war, there’s a lot of communities that need help and need that money,” Others sat quietly in the auditorium with signs critical of Ms. Ocasio-Cortez with signs.
Some of the signs read: “AOC: An Obvious Criminal,” “Stop funding Ukraine,” “America First. Vetted legal migrants only,” and “AOC: Stop pushing drag queen story hour.”
The congresswoman’s town halls have become rowdy in the past. Last year, hecklers chanted “AOC has got to go,” to the beat of drummers during one of her town halls for several minutes.
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.
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