Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) shut down former acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement director Tom Homan on Wednesday when he tried to speak over his allotted time during a House hearing.
The contentious moment happened during a House Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties hearing on the Trump administration’s decision to begin denying medical deferral requests from undocumented immigrants with life-threatening illnesses.
Committee member Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), an outspoken critic of the administration’s immigration measures, told Homan that his contribution as acting ICE chief “will always be remembered as one that was very ruthless and inhumane.”
An outraged Homan responded to Tlaib’s comments a few minutes later, complaining that “in my 34 years, I’ve never seen such hate toward a law enforcement agency in my life.”
Ocasio-Cortez, who was leading the hearing at that moment, repeatedly tried to tell the former ICE leader that his time was expired as he railed against ICE’s critics in Congress.
After telling Homan that his time was up for the fourth time while he kept speaking over her, the New York Democrat finally succeeded in intervening by slamming the gavel.
“Mr. Homan, your time is expired,” she said firmly before giving the floor to Rep. Katie Hill (D-CA).
Watch the exchange below:
AOC bangs gavel to get former ICE director to stop speaking over her pic.twitter.com/Xuk4QytG0U
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) September 12, 2019
