Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was literally left speechless when her attempt to shame a former Immigration and Customs Enforcement director backfired, but that didn’t stop her supporters from claiming victory.

Ocasio-Cortez confronted former ICE director Thomas Homan during a House Oversight Committee hearing on Friday, apparently trying to goad him into admitting the inhumanity of splitting up families under the Trump administration’s zero tolerance illegal immigration policy.

🔥HOLY, WOW🔥 Unprepared @AOC tries to come at Former ICE Director Thomas Homan.She gets eviscerated.It's unfair.It's hard to watch.Total savage flex by Homan at the end.AOC *literally* left speechless.I've never see a member get more completely & embarrassingly destroyed. pic.twitter.com/F8qn5wkp2f — Benny (@bennyjohnson) July 12, 2019

“So you are the author of the family separation policy,” Ocasio-Cortez declares, almost triumphantly, after Homan acknowledges signing a memo recommending the policy to Department of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen.

Unwilling to accept AOC’s insistence on the injustice of “family separation,” Homan points out that the policy is “the same as it is with every US citizen parent that gets arrested with a child.” Momentarily at a loss for words, AOC tries to equate crossing the border illegally with seeking asylum, but gets shot down again.

Suitably chastened, the congresswoman took to Twitter afterwards to continue the discussion in a safer space.

When Homan says “they can come in a port of entry,” what he doesn’t say is that the admin has practically closed ports to asylees.Out of desperation, families do what Óscar & Valeria(the father & daughter who drowned) did: face dangerous terrain.These are policies of cruelty. https://t.co/ifQOxe1t5Z — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 12, 2019

She blamed the administration’s policy of requiring asylum-seekers to wait on the Mexican side of the border for up to two months for the deaths of migrants who have tried to cross illegally - specifically, Oscar and Valeria Ramirez, the Salvadoran father and daughter who drowned last month trying to cross the Rio Grande.

Also on rt.com AOC was actually facing an empty parking lot during emotional border protest photo op

While her fan club cheered her on for smashing the “white supremacist” “jerk,” most tweeters were less than impressed with her performance. “These are actually policies of a country with laws in place for legal immigration,” one said. “Go cry in front of another vacant lot,” tweeted another. One user pointed out that the Ramirezes did not have a valid asylum claim - they were economic migrants, according to the child’s grandmother.

Dear @RepAOC Please keep talking and tweeting. You're practically handing us #Election2020!Warm regards, Americans who actually know stuff. P.S. If you never saw Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, put it on your list. #badeggpic.twitter.com/2VgDJOa1Kq — Dave Sussman, Whiskey Politics 🎙️🎥 (@DavidSussman) July 12, 2019

Lol he ate your lunch but the really funny part is this will keep happening to you because you don’t waste time learning.... anything. Crack a book kid. Virtue virtue virtue is fun but at some point even you have to get tired of humiliating yourself — Baba Yaga (@Chief_Concern) July 12, 2019

Tu vas chica 🤡😂 EPIC FAIL 😫😂 pic.twitter.com/o9rbiKPIO7 — Traveling Fools 💃🏿🕺🛫🌏🛬⛰🏝🏖 (@travelandfish) July 12, 2019

AOC was far from the only member of Congress to attempt to land blows on Homan. Rep. Jesus Garcia got an earful after melodramatically asking the former ICE director if he had children - or had ever held a dead one in his arms.

Thomas Homan to @Repchuygarcia: "Your comments are disgusting…I've served my country 34 years and yes, I held a five-year-old boy in my arms…for you to sit there and insult my integrity and my love of my country and for children, that's why this whole thing needs to be fixed." pic.twitter.com/gGA7qW4RgU — CSPAN (@cspan) July 12, 2019

“First of all, your comments are disgusting,” Homan shoots back, eventually declaring, “We’re a nation of laws. If you don’t like it, sir, change it.”

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