
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) addresses the media after touring the Clint, TX Border Patrol Facility in Clint, Texas

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said Monday that illegal immigrants and asylum-seekers detained at a pair of U.S. Customs and Border Protection stations she visited are 'drinking out of toilets' – a claim an agency official quickly denied.

Speaking outside a Border Patrol station in Clint, Texas, she raged: 'There's abuse in these facilities.'

'This was them knowing a congressional visit was coming. This was CBP on their best behavior. Telling people to drink out of the toilet.'

AOC said she 'forced' herself into a cell with detainees and one woman told her officers were waging 'psychological warfare' and that the agents often called them 'wh***s.'

The 29-year-old congresswoman claimed officers laughed at migrants drinking out of toilets.

The inflammatory statements – including the suggestion that she witnessed toilet-drinking herself – came hours after a news story established the existence of a private Facebook group where current and former CBP agents distributed lewd illustrations of the Democratic socialist congresswoman from New York.

But a CBP official said Monday in the early evening that plumbing fixtures at the locations Ocasio-Cortez visited are standard-issue jail appliances with sinks that dispense safe drinking water attached to toilets in a single unit.

'Of course that's what we have,' the official said. 'No one is drinking toilet water. They're drinking potable water from the sink attached to the toilet. It's what you would find in every municipal jail in the United States.'

A photo filed in a federal court case in 2016 illustrates the setup in a Tucson, Arizona CBP holding facility. The official confirmed that it's identical to what detainees at Texas border stations have access to.

Fuming: AOC describes the conditions in a migrant detention center to members of the media after 15 members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus gathered to tour Border Patrol facilities and migrant detention centers

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) addresses the media after touring the Clint, TX Border Patrol Facility

Ocasio-Cortez said Monday that illegal immigrants and asylum-seekers detained at a pair of U.S. Customs and Border Protection stations she visited are 'drinking out of toilets'

The inflammatory statement – including the suggestion that she witnessed toilet-drinking herself – came hours after a news story established the existence of a private Facebook group where current and former CBP agents distributed lewd illustrations of the Democratic socialist congresswoman from New York

After this story was published, Ocasio-Cortez confirmed on Twitter that '[t]his was in fact the type of toilet we saw in the cell.'

She also claimed 'there was just one' in the cell she saw, and the sink portion was not functioning,' adding that Rep. Ayanna Pressley 'smartly tried to open the faucet, and nothing came out. So the women were told they could drink out of the bowl.'

Her other tweets were contradictory, with some suggesting she witnessed guards offering a toilet as a source of drinking water and others intimating that she had only heard a story about it from a detainee.

The claims were quickly rebutted by an official at CBP who said 'no one is drinking toilet water' at border holding facilities

DailyMail.com showed the CBP official this photo from a 2016 federal court filing, which depicts toilets inside a Phoenix CBP holding facility; the official confirmed that the Texas facilities have the same fixtures – which deliver clean drinking water from faucets above every toilet

Ocasio-Cortez tweeted in mid-afternoon that she didn't have photos of what she saw because 'CBP made us check our phones.'

She was one of more than a dozen Democratic members of Congress visiting the border facilities. At least one, Rep. Jouqin Castro of Texas, posted photos that he took inside.

A Washington Examiner reporter tweeted that two sources inside the building said Ocasio-Cortez 'refused to tour the facility.'

The congresswoman had tweeted earlier that border agents were dismissive and 'physically & sexually threatening' toward her, and claimed in a statement to the press that women in the El Paso facility had no safe water to drink.

'What we saw today was unconscionable,' she told a waiting klatch of TV reporters. 'No woman should ever be locked up in a pen, when they have done no harm to another human being. They should be given water. They should be given basic access to human rights.'

A reporter with the Washington Examiner wrote that two sources at the El Paso border station reported that Ocasio-Cortez refused to tour the facility in person on Monday

In her tweets she claimed '[o]fficers were keeping women in cells w/ no water & had told them to drink out of the toilets. This was them on their GOOD behavior in front of members of Congress.'

'It's not just the kids. It's everyone. People drinking out of toilets, officers laughing in front of members Congress,' the 29-year-old Democratic socialist added in another tweet.

'I brought it up to their superiors. They said 'officers are under stress & act out sometimes.' No accountability.'

She called the experience 'horrifying' and classed it as 'systemic cruelty w/ a dehumanizing culture that treats them like animals.'

A second member of Congress claimed in an online video that a single detainee in El Paso had told her she was advised to drink toilet water.

'One woman said that the border patrol agent told her to – if she wanted water, just to drink from the toilet, California Democratic Rep. Judy Chu said.

Chu's office did not respond to a request for comment.

California Rep. Judy Chu repeated Ocasio-Cortez's claim in a video shot Monday, saying a detained woman had told the Democratic delegation that she was told to drink toilet water

Later Monday evening Ocasio-Cortez continued to tweet and share other people's pictures of women inside the facilities.

'Even if they let you in, these women told us CBP did a lot of 'cleaning up' before we arrived. They were moved into that room from outside tents before our arrival. They said they'd gone 15 days w/o a shower, & were allowed to start bathing 4 days ago (when visit was announced).

'These officers felt brazen in there. While mgmt was telling us it was a 'secure facility' where *members of Congress* had to check their phones, we caught officers trying to sneak photos, laughing. CBP's 'good' behavior was toxic. Imagine how they treat the women trapped inside.'

Alongside a photo of women inside a facility she wrote: 'Here's another photo from inside taken by @JoaquinCastrotx, where we're trying to comfort women trapped in cells. This woman was telling me about her daughters who were taken from her - she doesn't know where they've taken them. We held & listened to them. They were distraught.'

She later added: 'Pro-concentration camp & Pro-Trump protestors tried to drown out our accounts. They yelled at Rashida Tlaib about pork when she talked about facilities. They called Joaquin Castro 'traitor' for denouncing family separation. @AyannaPressley was heroic, speaking truth to vitriol.'

'And to these CBP officers saying they felt 'threatened' by me - They were literally discussing making a GoFundMe for an officer who attacked my on my tour. They confiscated my phone, and they were all armed. I'm 5'4'. They're just upset I exposed their inhumane behavior.'

AOC shared the above tweets and photos on Monday evening as she further explained her experiences at the facilities on Monday

The indignant New Yorker had begun Monday defending herself against slurs from a private Facebook group frequented by current and former border agents, where leaked images showed members sharing lewd pictures of her and suggesting a heart-rending photo of a drowned migrant and his toddler daughter was staged.

Screen captures of some postings include a Photoshopped image depicting her performing oral sex on a migrant man, and another portraying President Donald Trump forcing her head into his lap for another sex act.

The group, first noted by the news website Pro Publica, has 9,500 members.

In one message thread, a member posted a now-famous Associated Press photograph of Óscar Alberto Martínez Ramírez and his 23-month-old daughter, Angie Valeria, face down in the Rio Grande after drowning during a failed attempt to reach the United States.

'I HAVE NEVER SEEN FLOATERS LIKE THIS,' the person wrote, suggesting it could be 'another edited photo. We've all seen the dems and liberal parties do some pretty sick things.'

Ocasio-Cortez tweeted in mid-afternoon that she didn't have photos of what she saw because 'CBP made us check our phones'

The congresswoman had tweeted earlier that border agents were dismissive and 'physically & sexually threatening' toward her, and claimed in a statement to the press that women in the El Paso facility had no safe water to drink

The nonprofit news service Pro Publica published this image, which it said was posted to the Facebook group and depicted Ocasio-Cortez being forced to engage in oral sex with President Donald Trump

One member of the 'I am 10-15' group – it's named for the radio code used when an illegal immigrant is detained – suggested that a news photograph of a man and his toddler daughter who drowned crossing the Rio Grande was staged

When Ocasio-Cortez and Texas Rep. Veronica Escobar announced a visit to a border station near El Paso, a group member proposed a bounty collected on GoFundMe for any agent willing to throw a burrito at them

The '10-15' group is described as a home for U.S. Border Patrol (BP) and Air and Marine Operations (AMO) agents

Another post said: 'Let's start a go fund me for one CTX agent brave enough to thrown a 10-15 burrito at one of these b***hes,' one member wrote. 'Who ever does it takes the pot of $$.'

'10-15' is the law enforcement radio code that refers to the apprehension of an illegal immigrant. The Facebook group is called 'I'm 10-15.'

Another group member, who Pro Publica reported was 'apparently a patrol supervisor,' wrote, 'F**k the hoes.'

A third wrote: 'There should be no photo ops for these scum buckets.'

Ocasio-Cortez, a far-left lightning rod, had already angered Border Patrol agents last week by comparing their lockups to Nazi concentration camps.

The computer illustration of her fellating a migrant man was captioned: 'Lucky Illegal Immigrant Glory Hole Special Starring AOC.'

The second image, which portrayed Trump forcing her to perform a sex act on him, was posted along a comment that read: 'That's right b***hes. The masses have spoken and today democracy won. I have returned. To everyone who knows the real me and had my back I say thank you. To everyone else? This is what I have to say.'

The young lawmaker responded on Twitter.

'This isn't about 'a few bad eggs. This is a violent culture,' she said, insisting that she would still visit the border patrol station Monday afternoon.

'They're threatening violence on members of Congress. How do you think they're treating caged children+families?' she wrote.

Ocasio-Cortez said in a separate tweet that the reported 9.500 members of the 'racist & sexually violent' Facebook group represented 'almost half' of the Customs & Border Protection agents in the United States.

Pro Publica reported, however, that the group was also open to former agents. It's unknown how large that group might be.

Ocasio-Cortez erupted with anger after seeing herself made the butt of lewd jokes by the border agents she was traveling to oversee

US Police Department agents guard the Paso del Norte International Bridge checkpoint at the border with Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico, Monday

CBP agents and Border Patrol agents participate in an operative to find illegal migrants at the International Bridge Paso del Norte-Santa Fe in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua State, Mexico, Monday

Matthew Klein, CBP's Assistant Commissioner in the Office of Professional Responsibility, said in a statement that the agency was 'aware of disturbing social media activity hosted on a private Facebook group that may include a number of CBP employees.'

'CBP immediately informed DHS Office of the Inspector General and initiated an investigation,' he said

Klein added that agency employees must adhere to strict standards of conduct 'both on and off duty,' which includes an order to 'not make abusive, derisive, profane, or harassing statements or gestures, or engage in any other conduct evidencing hatred or invidious prejudice to or about one person or group on account of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age or disability.'

U.S. Border Patrol Chief Carla Provost said: 'Any employees found to have violated our standards of conduct will be held accountable.'