Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., accused President Donald Trump of a \u201cbetrayal\u201d after the Supreme Court handed his administration a pair of immigration wins involving Temporary Protected Status and asylum claims.
\nThe Supreme Court on Thursday allowed the Trump administration to end Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, for Haitian and Syrian migrants, clearing the way for the administration to remove legal protections that have allowed many Haitians to remain and work in the U.S. since Haiti\u2019s 2010 earthquake and many Syrians since the country\u2019s civil war prompted a TPS designation in 2012.
\nOcasio-Cortez told Fox News Digital the TPS decision targets the very people Trump supporters were told would not be the focus of his aggressive immigration deportation agenda.
\nSUPREME COURT HANDS TRUMP TWO MAJOR IMMIGRATION VICTORIES
\n\u201cI think it\u2019s really sad because these decisions are targeting exactly the kind of people that Republican voters said that they did not want targeted in the Trump administration\u2019s immigration policy,\u201d Ocasio-Cortez said.<\/p>\n
She argued the ruling marked \u201ca reversal of President Trump\u2019s promise to only go after, quote unquote, criminals and rapists.\u201d
\n\u201cThis decision to overturn TPS targets nurses, it targets health care workers, it targets domestic workers, cleaners, people who work in restaurants,\u201d she said, calling it \u201ca real betrayal of President Trump\u2019s promise.\u201d
\nOcasio-Cortez also argued the ruling would hurt U.S. citizens by raising prices, making it harder to find workers, while also breaking up longstanding communities.
\nHouse Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., criticized Trump and Republicans over the asylum ruling, saying the president has \u201ctime and time again\u201d attacked a process that has been part of U.S. law for decades.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are fleeing terrible conditions, and they have a lawful right to declare asylum,\u201d Aguilar said.
\nAOC TELLS VOTERS WORRIED ABOUT GROCERY PRICES TO JUST \u2018WAIT UNTIL THE FARMS ARE EMPTY\u2019 FROM DEPORTATIONS
\n\u201cTemporary Protected Status was always meant to be temporary,\u201d White House deputy press secretary Abigail Jackson said on Thursday. \u201cIt was never meant to be a pathway to permanent status or citizenship\u2026our asylum system, for years, has been abused and exploited by bad actors\u2026this ruling is a step in the right direction towards clearing up our asylum system and making sure that people can\u2019t enter our country who shouldn\u2019t be here \u2014 and that people who are here, who shouldn\u2019t be here, should be deported.\u201d
\nAsked what Democrats\u2019 next step would be on TPS, Aguilar pointed to legislation he said Democrats forced through the House by discharge petition.
\n\u201cDemocrats led legislation in order to bring certainty to that. It\u2019s sitting over in the Senate,\u201d Aguilar said. \u201cWe forced a discharge petition, and were successful because we believe in governing.\u201d
\nAguilar appeared to be referring to House-passed legislation aimed at extending TPS protections for Haitians.
\nRep. Shomari Figures, D-Ala., said he had not yet read the full decisions but was \u201cbeyond the point of being surprised by almost any decision that comes out of court.\u201d<\/p>\n
Figures defended TPS for Haiti, citing natural disasters, political instability and violence.
\n\u201cThere\u2019s not a country that I think TPS is designed at its core that\u2019s more deserving of that than the situations we currently see in Haiti,\u201d Figures said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"