Democratic Representative-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York talks with reporters in Washington, D.C., November 14, 2018. (Kevin Lamarque/REUTERS)

Last night on MSNBC, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York declared:

The women and children on that border that are trying to seeking refuge and seek opportunity in the United States of America, with nothing but the shirt on their backs, are acting more American than any person who seeks to keep them out ever will be.

This is not too different from President Obama’s old declaration that the Dreamers — who could be up to age 31 in 2012 — were “American by any other name except for their legal papers.” But the legal papers matter, don’t they? Once the government decides that a person’s legal papers don’t matter, they’re effectively declaring that citizenship and the legal process for attaining it is moot. In Obama’s formulation, you should enjoy the full rights of citizenship just by showing up. Obama’s statement inherently contended that the status of being “American” was not determined by birthright or obeying the laws and meeting the requirements of the legal-immigration process, but by presence and some sort of good character or desire to contribute.

In the argument articulated by the congresswoman last night, the desire to keep anyone out is “un-American,” and having that position will forever make you less American than those seeking asylum. This is a radical redefinition of the term and label “American” from “a person born in the United States or who legally immigrated” to “a person who agrees with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.”

I love immigrants. Most of us love immigrants. But immigrants are human beings, meaning they’re no inherently better or worse than native-born citizens. They’re geniuses and idiots, valedictorians and criminals, generous givers and misers, future saints and sinners, and everything in between — just like the roughly 360,000 Americans born in this country each day. We may conclude that immigrants are more inclined to take risks in pursuit of their dreams from their decision to journey to the United States. But beyond that, we should avoid any blanket statements about their character, because it’s just too easy to find contrary examples. Omar Ameen’s refugee application was approved by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on June 5, 2014. He was a member of ISIS. He, too, was “seeking refuge and seek opportunity in the United States of America, with nothing but the shirt on his back.” How “American” was he?


One of the reasons we want a legal-immigration process is that it helps us sort out the violent and dangerous and those with particularly bad characters. The congresswoman is arguing that expecting immigrants to agree to these legal process is un-American.