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AOC under federal investigation for employing illegal immigrants and helping others evade ICE

An illegal immigrant who worked as an aide to Ocasio-Cortez allegedly self-deported to Colombia last March after working in Congress despite being in the country illegally.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) speaks at a party convention.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) speaks at a party convention.AFP.

Diane Hernández
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Diane Hernández

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Trump's border czar, Tom Homan, announced Monday that he formally launched a federal investigation against New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for allegedly employing an illegal immigrant on her staff and helping other undocumented aliens evade Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.

Homan revealed that he has ordered the agency to file a case against the representative during an interview with U.S. political commentator and youtuber Benny Johnson.

"It is being investigated, I cannot comment further. I am aware, we have asked ICE to thoroughly investigate that case," Homan said.

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The current Trump deportation director added that "as far as educating people on how to evade ICE arrests, it's actually teaching them how to avoid prosecution. Because there are statutes that prohibit knowingly hindering deportation, which is a crime."

Johnson asked the official how an illegal immigrant could have worked in Congress and have access to classified material, to which Homan responded: "It's not possible."

He also stressed that the congresswoman will be held accountable if such claims are true.

The Diego de la Vega case

An illegal immigrant who worked as an aide to Ocasio-Cortez, allegedly self-deported to Colombia last March after working in Congress despite being in the country illegally.

Diego de la Vega was born in Ecuador and immigrated to the United States when he was 7 years old in 2001 on an overstayed visitor's visa, Migrant Insider reported.

De la Vega became politically active in 2010, after the failure of the DREAM Act, which was intended to provide a pathway for illegal immigration regularization for immigrants brought to the country as children.

After serving an immigrant rights group, he served as communications director for Robert Rodriguez, then a member of the New York State Assembly, and also interned for Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D).

In 2021, de la Vega was hired by Ocasio-Cortez's re-election campaign and eventually became her deputy communications director.

AOC to Homan: "Come get me!"

In February, Homan sent an email to the deputy attorney general asking the department to investigate AOC. This came days after it was revealed that the New York Democrat was imparting seminars to inform undocumented immigrants on how to evade ICE.

At a subsequent town hall meeting, Ocasio-Cortez openly mocked the former ICE director, downplaying his warnings about the "Know Your Rights" webinar hosted by her office in February. She openly challenged him to "go for it."

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