Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) sat down for an interview with Hot 97’s EBRO in the Morning Tuesday and suggested that Republicans use illegal immigration to hide racism, telling the hosts that the ongoing debate “has never been about undocumented immigrants.”

The freshman Democrat spoke on the show Tuesday morning and discussed the ongoing issues surrounding illegal immigration and suggested that the GOP’s concerns are rooted in race and race alone.

“There’s room in this country,” Ocasio-Cortez said before attempting to use her experience with the Financial Services Committee to build her argument.

“On one hand, Republicans love to say ‘The economy is going great, unemployment is at all-time lows, blah blah blah, everything is going amazing. We can’t even hire enough people,'” she began.

“And on the other hand, they’re talking about how immigration is bad and how we can’t have immigrants,'” she said before accusing the GOP of using illegal immigration to hide covert racism:

And by the way– this has never been about undocumented immigrants. It’s never been about this. They’ve always said that, but to the point that you are now telling members of Congress to ‘go back to your own country,’ you showed your hand. This has always been about race.

“It’s been about the tanning of America,” host Ebro Darden agreed. “Darker skin and making sure people with darker skin don’t have access.”

“Trump said it himself,” he continued. “He said ‘How come people from Sweden and Switzerland don’t want to come to America?’ Well bro, because we haven’t destabilized their countries.”

Ocasio-Cortez agreed and praised those countries for having “single-payer health care” and “living wages.”

“Why would they want to leave there,” another in the room remarked.

“Yeah Like, hello!” Ocasio-Cortez exclaimed. “We’re trying to get some of that.”:

That was one of the most in-depth political interviews I’ve had in a long time, including @EBROINTHEAM asking questions no one else has asked. Shout out to @oldmanebro, @Rosenbergradio & @LAURASTYLEZ for creating that space & coming at these conversations in a totally unique way https://t.co/c3BZFUtbFj — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 30, 2019

Despite Ocasio-Cortez’s status as a member of the Financial Services Committee, the numbers tell a different story. As Breitbart News reported, illegal immigration costs American taxpayers roughly $116 billion annually:

The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) released the immigration report, revealing that an illegal alien costs the American taxpayer approximately $8,075 each, totaling a burden of roughly $116 billion annually.

Researchers with FAIR said the finding was both a “disturbing and unsustainable trend,” as the cost of illegal immigration to taxpayers has risen nearly $3 billion since 2013, when illegal immigration cost $113 billion. The study directly challenges research by libertarian think tanks and open borders organizations, which claim that illegal immigrants are net-gains for American taxpayers.

During an April interview with SiriusXM Patriot’s Breitbart News Daily, Immigration Studies Director of Research Steve Camarota said, by his estimates, that an illegal border crosser costs American taxpayers $70,000 over a lifetime.

“In a person’s lifetime, I’ve estimated that an illegal border crosser might cost taxpayers … maybe over $70,000 a year as a net cost,” Camarota said. “And that excludes the cost of their U.S.-born children, which gets pretty big when you add that in.”

“Once [an illegal alien] has a child, they can receive cash welfare on behalf of their U.S.-born children,” Camarota continued.

“Once they have a child, they can live in public housing. Once they have a child, they can receive food stamps on behalf of that child. That’s how that works,” he added.

Additionally, far-left Democrats have expressed support for giving illegal immigrants “free” health care, which could cost U.S. taxpayers “an additional $660 billion every decade in expenses,” Breitbart News reported.

President Trump has doubled down on his critiques of the far-left “Squad,” turning their continuous accusations of racism back on them:

The “Squad” is a very Racist group of troublemakers who are young, inexperienced, and not very smart. They are pulling the once great Democrat Party far left, and were against humanitarian aid at the Border…And are now against ICE and Homeland Security. So bad for our Country! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 22, 2019