Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez went on Facebook this week to host a webinar called "Know Your Rights With ICE." The target audience wasn't constituents worried about due process. It was illegal immigrants looking for tips on how to resist federal law enforcement officers — officers who've seen a 1,300 percent increase in vehicle attacks against them this year.
She's not alone. And she's not hiding it.
According to Fox News, multiple Democrats with eyes on the 2028 presidential race — including AOC, California Governor Gavin Newsom, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, and U.S. Representative Dan Goldman of New York — have either hosted or endorsed instructional content coaching illegal immigrants on how to "defy" ICE operations. Newsom's office went so far as to produce "Know Your Rights" materials translated into 15 languages and backed by a $50 million California package funding immigrant legal defense.
Diana Crofts-Pelayo, a spokesperson for Newsom's office, defended the effort with a straight face. "There is nothing more American than making sure everyone is aware of their rights," she said. Which is a lovely bumper sticker until you remember that the people being coached aren't American citizens, and the "rights" being taught amount to creative strategies for avoiding arrest by federal officers.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin wasn't impressed. His "#1 goal is to keep our officers safe and get criminals OFF our streets," he said, adding that "illegal aliens will be arrested and deported wherever they are." California Attorney General Rob Bonta, meanwhile, has positioned himself on the opposite side — using his office to run interference for the same population ICE is trying to remove.
AOC's contribution was perhaps the most revealing. "Our strategic advantage in this moment is our strength in numbers," she told her audience. "They cannot come after us all." That's a sitting member of Congress telling people who are in the country illegally that their best play is to outnumber the cops. Not a protest chant at a rally — a calculated strategy, delivered via social media, posted to Instagram, broadcast on Facebook.
The timing matters. Two officer-involved shootings — one in Maine, one in Texas — prompted ICE to briefly pause vehicle stops, a decision President Trump publicly pushed back on, saying, "We must be strong, tough, and smart...THE TRAFFIC STOP!" So while federal agents are getting attacked at record rates and the administration is fighting to keep enforcement operational, these aspiring presidents are hosting Zoom seminars on how to make the job harder.
There's always been a gap between what Democratic candidates say about immigration publicly and what they do behind closed doors. This isn't behind closed doors. This is a Facebook Live event with a branded title.
The 2028 audition tape used to be a stump speech in Iowa about kitchen-table issues. Now it's a webinar teaching people who entered the country illegally how to avoid the consequences. That's not a policy disagreement. That's a job description change — from "lawmaker" to "obstruction consultant."
Funny how "know your rights" never seems to apply to the DHS officers dodging vehicles on the job.
