Watch: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez torches Trump's racist immigration policy in rebuttal on MSNBC's Maddow

Shortly after Trump launched a lie-filled white nationalist Oval Office screed that was needlessly broadcasted on national TV last night, newly-elected Congresswoman and progressive sensation Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D) laid out some hard truths about immigration in America and Trump’s cruel and racist immigration policies on MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show.

Sophie Weiner at Splinter:

“The one thing Trump has not talked about is that he has systematically engaged in the violation of international human rights on our border,” Ocasio-Cortez said. She went on to talk about the child who died in ICE custody on Christmas and the freezing holding cells—known as hieleras—where many detained immigrants are kept.

“The president shouldn’t be asking for more money for an agency that has systematically violated human rights,” she continued. “He should really be defending why we are funding such an agency at all.”

Ocasio-Cortez also disputed the notion that most undocumented people in the U.S. cross the border illegally. Instead, she said, visa overstays are the biggest source of undocumented immigrants. And, she added, the more Trump restricts legal immigration, the bigger this problem will get.

“He’s fighting against almost every legal way people can enter this country, forcing them to become undocumented,” she told Maddow. “And then he’s trying to attack their undocumented status. It is systematic, it is wrong, and it is anti-American.”

“These women and children who are coming here with nothing but the shirts on their backs... are acting more in the American tradition than this president right now,” she added.

Emily Crockett at Shareblue:

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York — who just became the youngest woman elected to Congress — gave a powerful interview that was the perfect antidote to Trump’s stale racism.

It was authentic, personal, and passionate, and reminded Americans of the human stakes of Trump’s racist grandstanding on immigration.

Ocasio-Cortez talked about her fellow restaurant workers who have fled the country in fear of Trump’s hatred, and the damage that this does to communities.

Caroline Burke at Bustle:

Ocasio-Cortez went on to say that even if people are "anti-immigrant" in the United States, that was no reason to build a border wall, because "the majority of people [in America] who are documented is because of visa overstay, not because people are crossing a border illegally."

Aaron Rupar at Vox:

Ocasio-Cortez laid the smackdown on Trump’s racist attacks on immigrants with the facts, and that makes America truly great.

From the 01.08.2019 edition of MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show: