AOC dares Trump’s border czar in 3-word throwdown during town hall
Queens, N.Y.: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., threw down the gauntlet to Tom Homan on Friday after the border czar previously threatened to refer her to the Justice Department for giving advice to migrants on how to avoid being deported.
Ocasio-Cortez told attendees at a Queens town hall event that she was not afraid of the words from the immigration hardliner in the wake of her office hosting a “Know your Rights” webinar in February. Homan has suggested her actions might be illegal and may impede Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from carrying out the Trump administration’s mass deportations.
“Tom Homan said he was going to refer me to DOJ because I’m using my free speech rights in order to advise people of their constitutional protections. To that I say: Come for me, do I look like I care?” Ocasio-Cortez told a cheering crowd.
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Ocasio-Cortez asserted that there was “nothing illegal about it and if they want to make it illegal, they can come take me.”
In February, Ocasio-Cortez’s office hosted a live webinar advising migrants in her district about their rights if they come face to face looking to deport them.
People were recommended to ask for warrants, record searches if ICE came calling and were given tips on how to differentiate between different warrants ICE agents are likely to carry.
That led to Homan suggesting the New York Democrat could be crossing a line.
“I’m working with the Department of Justice and finding out. Where is that line that they cross? So maybe AOC is going to be in trouble now,” he said after the event.
“What she needs to do is read the statutes enacted by Congress… because it’s a crime to enter this country illegally,” the Trump border czar said separately on “Sunday Morning Futures.”
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“Not only that, but when you harbor and conceal and impede law enforcement, that’s a felony. What she’s doing, she says she’s educating everybody on their constitutional rights, and we all know they’ve got constitutional rights, but what she’s really doing… she’s trying to teach them how to evade law enforcement.”
Ocasio-Cortez on Friday also attacked the Trump administration’s approach to border security and immigration, referring to its deportation of Venezuelan gang members as “sanctioned kidnappings.”
“I don’t even want to call them deportations. They are sanctioned kidnappings in many circumstances,” the congresswoman told attendees. “They do not have carte blanche to enter. If they do want to knock on your door, or knock on anyone’s door — including your workplace — you can tell them, ‘Show me a warrant. Show me a judicial warrant.’ And if they don’t show you a warrant, you can say they can come back with a warrant. You have the right to turn them away.”
Ocasio-Cortez was speaking to a packed auditorium full of hundreds for attendees. Those who couldn’t get in sat in an overflow room across the hall.
Attendees gave the progressive lawmaker a warm reception and, bar one disruptor, appeared fully supportive of her legislative agenda and her representation of the district to date. Many questions from the audience centered around local issues, calls for a minimum wage hike, how to improve air quality as well as asking her how she plans on tackling the Trump administration.
The loudest applause came when Ocasio-Cortez voiced her opposition to a proposed new casino at Citi Field, which would be part of new sports and entertainment park. It has gotten approval from the New York City Council, although the congresswoman said she doesn’t have a say in the matter since it’s a state issue as well as not being in her district.
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The event was mostly uneventful except for an early disruption by a protester who began shouting at Ocasio-Cortez about the “genocide” in Gaza.
“I am a healthcare worker and I want to know what you’re doing about the genocide in Gaza,” the protester started shouting at the congresswoman.
“Shame! Shame! Shame!” the audience began shouting at the disruptor. Audible “boos” could be heard as well before she was eventually led out by security.
Experts weigh in after critics sound the alarm over dangers of REAL ID
While many public policy leaders believe implementation of REAL ID requirements across the country will bolster national security, some more libertarian critics say the Bush-era protocol could come at a cost to individual liberty and bigger government, with one expert telling Fox News Digital it essentially sets up a de facto national ID system and treats law-abiding Americans with suspicion.
When Congress debated REAL ID in 2005, libertarian Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, strongly opposed the move, positing that it constituted a national ID card that had no limitations on what type of information could be stored on it, posing a significant threat to American civil liberties.
After being signed into law, the implementation of REAL ID was repeatedly postponed during administrations of both political parties, including the first Trump administration during the height of the COVID pandemic. This year, however, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) set a new deadline for obtaining a REAL ID of May 7. Having REAL ID-compliant identification will be required to board domestic commercial airline flights and to access some federal facilities like courthouses or military bases.
So, should citizens be concerned about getting a REAL ID? Fox News Digital spoke to two policy experts, one supportive and one critical, for their views.
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What are the benefits?
Simon Hankinson, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s Border Security and Immigration Center, told Fox News Digital that requiring additional documentation to obtain a REAL ID will have a significant impact on identifying and cracking down on terrorism and other illegal activity in the U.S., including illegal immigration.
By requiring a REAL ID to fly, Hankinson explained that IDs offered by liberal states to illegal immigrants will no longer allow those illegals to easily move about the country unchecked.
He pointed to the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001, in which several of the al Qaeda terrorists involved had obtained valid state licenses, which were accepted for boarding their flights.
And while Hankinson acknowledged that concerns about data privacy are legitimate, he pointed out that most Americans already have much of their information stored in databases such as that of the Social Security Administration.
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Hankinson said the government will have to be held to the highest standards to uphold citizens’ privacy. Still, he compared the risk-reward scenario posed to the nation by REAL ID to nuclear power.
“If it’s done right, you can mitigate the risks, and you can have, like France, 75, 80% of your power from nuclear power plants,” he said. “If you cut corners, and you put the wrong people in charge and you take risks, then you end up with Chernobyl.”
What are the concerns?
But Jim Harper, a senior fellow of digital privacy and constitutional law at the American Enterprise Institute, told Fox News Digital that though REAL ID is not technically a national identification card, since it is issued by individual states, obtaining one enters private citizens into a national database, effectively making it a national identification system.
“REAL ID is a national ID system. And historically, national ID systems have been used for terrible things,” he said. “We want to make sure that we don’t position ourselves in the United States ever to have that much authority reside with the government. And so, for two decades now, I’ve been arguing against REAL ID, simple as that.
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What is the problem with being entered into a national system? Harper explained that his concern is that setting up such a system treats American citizens as suspects before they have committed any crimes.
He granted that the dangers of REAL ID are “not as urgent” as something like the Patriot Act, which was passed in the wake of 9/11 and significantly expanded the scope and powers of law enforcement and intelligence operations in the U.S., but that it similarly expands the ability of the government to control and monitor its citizenry.
“I reject the idea of having law-abiding American citizens put into a national I.D. system because they might be terrorists. That’s not the way we do law enforcement in this country, to treat people as suspects from go,” he said. “I don’t think natural born citizens should, should be put into a national I.D. system for immigration control. That’s the that’s the problem of illegal immigration being visited on the citizen. That’s not how it’s supposed to work.”
In his view, the “burden” of the reasons for having a national ID “all falls on the citizen, on the individual who’s not accused of any crime or any wrongdoing. That’s not the way to do it.”
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What should I do?
Harper predicted that the federal government will ultimately bend on enforcing REAL ID requirements and continue to “kick the can down the road” as they have done for two decades.
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What’s more, according to both Hankinson and Harper, citizens in most states will still have other options available to them if they want to opt out of getting a REAL ID.
In the end, the decision of whether to obtain a REAL ID or to accept the risks of not doing so rests with individual citizens.
Bill Maher says Dems will blow next election — and points finger at reality TV show
HBO host Bill Maher used a woke moment from the finale of a hit reality TV series on Friday to illustrate how the Democratic Party could lose future elections.
During his closing monologue from “Real Time with Bill Maher,” the host highlighted “Love Is Blind” season eight star Sara Carlton walking away from her wedding to co-star Ben Mezzenga because he didn’t have strong enough pro-Black Lives Matter views.
Referencing a question he posed last week on the show to Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif. Maher wondered, “But how are the Democrats going to blow it this time? This is how: Posturing, purity tests, the politics of ‘I unfriend you if you’re not exactly with me 1000 percent,’” he said, comparing liberals’ current political perspective to Carlton’s dating standards.
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As Maher explained, the “Love Is Blind” season eight finale featured Carlton walking out on Mezzenga at the altar because they weren’t on the same “wavelength.” Elsewhere during the episode, Carlton told her relatives that Mezzenga’s views on BLM were a dealbreaker.
“I remember I asked him about Black Lives Matter, and I’m no expert, but when I asked him about it, he was like, ‘I guess I never really thought too much about it,” she said.
“And that’s when Sara realized she would rather die alone,” Maher quipped after playing a clip from the show.
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He mentioned other areas where Mezzenga fell short on Carlton’s deeply held views. “To be fair to Sara, it wasn’t just Black Lives Matter. Ben also didn’t have much to say on the vaccine,” he said, adding a sarcastic tone. “And his position on trans was basically, ‘I don’t know I guess.’ Sarah’s sister is gay and when she told that to Ben, Ben said he had ‘no discomfort around that community at all.’”
“Not good enough, Ben!” Maher shouted. “I think what you meant to say is, ‘F— yeah! I f—— love it!’”
The host lectured his fellow liberals: “Let me tell you folks, if the standards on the left are going to be this high and politics is going to be this much of a c— block, we’re never going to win elections or have any more babies.”
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“This inclination from certain liberals to always and immediately excommunicate instead of communicate is what makes them so unlikable,” Maher added.
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Dem governor hires campaign staffer known for spreading anti-White propaganda
The reelection campaign of Governor Katie Hobbs, D-Ariz., has tapped someone with a penchant for slamming white people, despite being white himself.
Hobbs, a vocal progressive and anti-Trump leader, brought Michael Beyer on as her 2026 reelection campaign communications director in April despite his history of going after people because they are white, and not just Republicans either.
A look through Beyer’s X account shows the staffer levying criticism on social media as early as 2014 against a range of demographics, all with one thing in common – they’re white.
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Beyer has accused the “religious right” of being united through “a belief in white supremacy,” blasted self-professed democratic socialist Bernie Sanders’ voters for having “white entitlement” and accused Taylor Swift and other “white people” of “romanticizing the conquest of Africa.”
Beyer has also espoused anti-gay rhetoric targeted at gay white Republicans, positing in a social media post about the leader of one of the longest-standing pro-gay GOP nonprofits in the country that it was “unclear” whether he was “just a bunch of twinks standing on top of each other hiding in a trench coat.” In another post, Beyer complained there were too many “white men” in a 1980’s news segment about HIV, while in another Beyer suggested “white suburban voters” in Louisiana “had taken over” the local newspaper.
The Arizona governor’s recent hire is just the latest in a series of tumultuous staffing issues Hobbs has faced as governor. In 2022, it was reported that in just five months two-thirds of Hobbs’ gubernatorial campaign staff left, with several describing their work on the campaign as “emotionally abusive.” Meanwhile, Hobbs has also been forced to fire past employees over inflammatory social media posts.
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“White evangelicals are the only group that predominantly wants anti-gay discrimination, poll shows,” Beyer posted on then-Twitter in 2017, along with a link to a blog from Slate. “Once again, it is a belief in white supremacy that unites the Religious Right,” he added in his tweet.
In addition to blaming religious conservatives for being racist, Beyer also said in 2015 that Republicans in general “thinks [sic] they only have to answer to white voters.” In a subsequent post, Beyer slammed Secretary of State Marco Rubio for only appealing to “whites” after allegedly “romanticizing U.S. colonialism.”
Turning to liberals, Beyer has also had choice words for white Bernie Sanders supporters, saying in a 2016 post on Twitter that they all have “white entitlement.” He suggested in another post around the same time that the only reason Sanders won New Hampshire during the 2016 election was because the state is “91% white.”
In 2015, Beyer went after Taylor Swift and other “white people” for “romanticizing” colonialism. “Only white people would be the people romanticizing the conquest of Africa,” Beyer said in a 2015 post, referring to Swift’s song “Wildest Dreams” that debuted around the same time. His post was in response to a separate tweet Beyer posted that included a link and title of a NPR op-ed with the headline: “Taylor Swift Is Dreaming Of A Very White Africa.”
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Despite Beyer’s numerous claims suggesting white people are racist, he contended in 2017 that “white people are very bad at identifying racism/racists.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the Hobbs campaign to question whether it would be reconsidering its decision to hire Beyer, but never received a response.
Beyer himself did not respond when reached for comment, either.
In addition to Beyer, Hobbs has a history of hiring other staffers who have made controversial remarks on social media. She has also had an issue with high turnover in her office.
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One of Hobbs’ former press secretaries was fired in 2023 after posting an image of a lady drawing two pistols from her hip, which included the caption “Us when we see transphobes.” The social media post came the same day a gender-confused individual opened fire at an elementary school in Nashville, after which some critics cited the person’s gender dysphoria as a possible catalyst for the horrific event.
Hobbs’ office has also been impacted frequently by an unusually high turnover rate among her staff. In 2022, it was reported that two-thirds of Hobbs’ gubernatorial campaign staff left across a period of just five months, with some of the departing staff describing their work on the campaign as “emotionally abusive.”
The culture was apparently so bad, the staffers said, they had to upend their lives mid-election to seek employment elsewhere.
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Hobbs has lost staffers in the middle of ongoing legislative sessions, and, in 2023, Hobbs’ legislative director resigned just hours before the release of the state’s budget.
At least one of Hobbs’ staffers went from their job on her campaign to another job with Arizona politics.
Elizabeth Hurley reflected on a simpler time before she revealed she was dating country music star Billy Ray Cyrus.
Hurley, 59, looked completely at ease wearing a skimpy red bikini while strolling the beach in the Maldives.
The “Austin Powers” actress shared a few “happy memories” from her tropical getaway where she celebrated her son, Damian Hurley’s birthday.
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“Well…it’s been a helluva few weeks since my glorious sojourn in the Maldives, but here are some of my happy memories,” Hurley captioned a carousel of images.
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The “Bedazzled” star slipped into a backless sundress in one snap, and showed off views from her luxurious cabana at the Baglioni Maldives hotel.
Hurley and Cyrus, 63, went Instagram-official with their secret relationship on Easter Sunday with a shared photo of the “Achy Breaky Heart” singer kissing his new girlfriend.
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Days later, the “Rowing with the Wind” actress posted a series of shots from her “Tennessee weekend” with the country star right by her side.
Cyrus debuted his new song “Ask (Honor Song)” last week, and told “The Ty Bentli Show” that not only is their blossoming relationship a gift from God, but he’s also the happiest he’s been in a long time – thanks to his new romance.
“It’s just been beautiful,” Cyrus said, noting there are “no expectations of where we go from here other than her and her son. I do love him a lot, and it’s great that God brought them into my life when he did. It’s just a good thing.
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“It’s been a long time since I’ve been this happy.”
The former co-stars reconnected over text, with Hurley making the first move nearly two years after they worked on the 2022 film “Christmas in Paradise.”
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“We did very few scenes together, but the couple times we were in the same scene, there was a chemistry there that felt … we just laughed, and it was at a time I wasn’t laughing a lot. And I found out the oddest thing,” he said of Hurley.
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“I’ve obviously, I know all about her life and career and me, a kid from Flatwoods, Kentucky, going to sit and pretend I’m an actor with Elizabeth Hurley knowing that, wait, how did this happen? And the oddest part was first how much we laughed.”
Cyrus was in the throes of divorce from his third wife, Firerose, when Hurley contacted him unexpectedly after not communicating for more than two years.
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“I felt like, ‘Wow, can life get any harder? Can it get any tougher?’ For me, at a certain point, it was like, ‘You can’t get knocked down any flatter than laying on your back when life is kicking you,’” Cyrus said. “And, in this moment, this hand kind of reached out in a text message, not a physical hand, as in the one you saw in the picture. That’d be good. A friend reached out.”
Former blue state residents speak out about why they fled to Florida for good
Ex-New Yorkers have declared something is rotten in the Big Apple, explaining Friday why they moved in droves to the Sunshine State instead.
According to a new study by the nonpartisan New York-focused Citizens Budget Commission (CBC), more than 150,000 residents reportedly fled New York for Florida between 2018 and 2022. With about 50,000 leaving Florida for NYC, the Big Apple saw a net decrease of over 100,000 residents who took almost $14 billion in income along with them.
This is part of an ongoing, years-long exodus of people from some of America’s most liberal states, particularly in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and the homelessness and economic issues that surged in its wake.
Alex Taub, the co-founder of entertainment tech startup Goblintown, was one of many new Floridians who spoke to the New York Post about his motivations for leaving New York in the rearview mirror.
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“People thought we were crazy when we were telling them this but it just started getting more and more bleak in New York,” Taub said. “For the same price that we were paying [for a two-bedroom apartment] in New York, we were getting a five-bedroom, four-bathroom house with a pool and a backyard.”
The lifelong New Yorker said he once would have considered it “blasphemous” to leave, but the potential change in his work-life balance was too good to pass up.
“A lot of friends have moved down here, a lot of people in tech, a lot of people in business. The people who stayed are the people with kids,” Taub told the New York-based outlet. “I’ve never worked harder in my life but I know that at 5 o’clock today I can jump in the pool for a short break with my kids and have fun.”
Bustle Media CEO Bryan Goldberg praised south Florida’s government, telling the New York Post it “is composed of dozens of small towns with accessible, sane leaders who work hard to improve our lives.”
“I can get on the phone with the Miami Beach mayor at any time, and so can any of my neighbors,” the CEO added. “Once one experiences this sort of relationship with their government, it is impossible to return to the Kafkaesque NYC experience.”
Luxury retail consultant Melanie Holland said many of her clients offer a similar list of grievances about New York City, such as, “Why do I want to pay New York state or New York City taxes when I walk out my door and there’s a homeless person, or my Walgreens is shut down because of theft?”
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She added further that many of her clients “hate” what has happened to New York City, noting crime and the smell of marijuana.
Broadstreet Global CEO David Feingold noted that at least 20 people that work in his organization have petitioned to relocate to the Sunshine State. While he said that New York’s high taxes and weather are timeless drawbacks, the new element actually driving longtime residents away is the “cumulative effect” of crime and immigration.
Feingold claimed that, much to his surprise, none of the people he knows who have relocated from New York to Florida regret the decision. “That’s the amazing thing — I thought I would get complaints about the lack of art and culture that you can only find in New York.”
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CBC president Andrew Rein also spoke to The New York Post about the exodus, noting, “The key is with any place you need the benefits to outweigh the cost. The question right now for New York is what do we offer? We have to make sure the benefits of being in New York are worth the cost.”
Nike under intense scrutiny as controversies continue to mount: ‘Just don’t do it’
The sportswear juggernaut Nike is facing widespread scrutiny after one of its London billboards had to be removed over holocaust comparisons, and a recent New York Times article reported that the company is allegedly funding a child transgender athletes study.
So, a startup competitor joined in, and taking aim at Nike and other controversies in its past, for marketing purposes.
The women’s activist wear brand XX-XY Athletics released an advertisement this week titled “Buy Nike? Maybe just don’t do it.”
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The ad pointed out the company’s recent controversies involving the billboard and the alleged trans athlete study funding, in addition to past controversies.
The video featured news headlines from various outlets, including an article from The Guardian covering former runner Mary Cain’s $20 million lawsuit against Nike after allegedly suffering years of emotional abuse. The ad also featured a 2023 BCC article covering Canada’s ethics watchdog launching an investigation into allegations that Nike Canada and a gold mining company benefited from Uyghur forced labor in their China operations.
XX-XY Athletics has taken aim at Nike in a number of their viral advertising campaigns since the brand launched last year. Their first viral ad, which was titled “Dear Nike,” featured female athletes of all ages calling out the company for not standing against trans inclusion in girls’ and women’s sports.
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After Nike debuted its first Super Bowl commercial in 27 years, featuring a star-studded lineup of women athletes including Caitlin Clark, Sha’Carri Richardson, Jordan Chiles and JuJu Watkins, many critics were quick to call out Nike for its official company stance in supporting trans athletes competing in women’s sports.
XX-XY responded with its own ad and its own ensemble of brand ambassadors, headlined by Riley Gaines, parodying Nike’s Super Bowl spot.
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Nike previously gave a statement to Fox News Digital addressing its billboard controversy.
“We did not mean any harm and sincerely apologize for any we caused,” the company said. “The London billboards were part of a broader campaign built on runners’ insights and designed to motivate runners to push past what they think is possible. Nike condemns any form of antisemitism. The language should not have been used, and the billboards have come down.”