Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) testified as a witness at a House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing on migrant children and border security. The Congresswoman insisted on being sworn in even though it was not necessary, as Chairman Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) noted. Ocasio-Cortez likened the Trump administration's policy of "remain in Mexico" to human trafficking because it puts migrants in the "crosshairs" of human traffickers. AOC also said there is no reason to arrest "innocent" illegal immigrants and treat them differently than common criminals. The Congresswoman broke down while lamenting how families are being held in facilities where American flags hang. "What was worse about this, Mr. Chairman, was the fact that they were American flags hanging all over these facilities, that children being separated from their parents in front of an American flag, that women were being called these names under an American flag. We cannot allow for this," AOC said. <blockquote>REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): Speaking of trafficking it is unnecessary for this administration to choose to implement policies like metering and so-called remain in Mexico policies that don't innocent people in dangerous territories that puts them right in the crosshairs of human traffickers, ripe for picking. This is a manufactured crisis because cruelty, because the cruelty is manufactured. This is a manufactured crisis because there is no need for us to do this. There is no need for us to overcrowd and to detain and under resource. There is no need for us to arrest innocent people and treat them no differently than criminals when they're pursuing their basic human rights... We are not getting the accounts of migrants, of their treatment, of what they are experiencing. And so when these women tell me that they were put into cell and that their sink was not working we tested the sink ourselves and the sink was not working and they were told to drink out of a toilet bowl, I believe them. I believe these women. I believe they canker sores that I saw in their mouths because there are only allowed to be fed nutritious food. I believe them when they said there was sleeping on concrete floors for two months. I believe them. And what was worse about this, Mr. Chairman, was the fact that they were American flags hanging all over these facilities, that children being separated from their parents in front of an American flag, that women were being called these names under an American flag. We cannot allow for this.</blockquote>