AOC faces hecklers over immigration stance during Queens town hall

In what was surely an awkward few moments for liberal firebrand Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, hecklers disrupted a town hall she held in Queens on Thursday, blasting here stance on immigration, as the Daily Caller reports.

Though AOC intended for the event to focus on the Green New Deal and climate change, a pair of disgruntled attendees had other ideas, accusing the lawmaker of favoring illegal immigrants to the detriment of the constituency she was elected to serve.

In an interesting twist, one of those shouting at AOC during the event was a man who appeared to declare his candidacy for the House seat she currently holds.

“My name is Jonathan David Rinaldi, and I'm running for Congress against AOC,” the man declared.

He went on, “The Green New Deal is a scam. They're giving the NYCHA apartments away, they're giving illegal aliens $10,000 a day...I want you to debate me, AOC, debate me!”

AOCs challenges did not stop there, as another attendee stood up, gestured at the congresswoman and said, “Secure the border now...You don't care, all you care about is illegal aliens an their votes. You don't care about your constitutents... You're a disgrace.”

To that, AOC offered a snarky retort to the claim that she only represented illegals, saying, “Well, clearly I don't because I'm an elected member of Congress, so keep it pushing, bro.”

After the kerfuffle calmed down and the hecklers were removed from the venue, Ocasio-Cortez attempted to explain her position, saying, “Clearly, this community -- Astoria, Jackson Heights, also the Bronx -- clearly supports progressive immigration policies that welcomes all of our neighbors.”

“We clearly support a path to citizenship, we clearly support ending draconian immigration policies ad that is why you all...support my representation of our community in Congress because we have had enough,” she added.

She continued, “We have seen the voices that are anti-immigrant in this country are very, very loud, but they are very, very few, and we have to look around and realize how many of us are here in support of our neighbors and an acknowledgment of the fact that virtually all of us are descendants of immigrants, or indigenous people, or enslaved people.”

Even so, AOC is having to face the fact that President Joe Biden, a fellow Democrat, now appears poised to pivot on immigration and potentially use executive action to limit asylum claims ahead of the 2024 election, echoing certain policies enacted by former President Donald Trump.

The move, it is thought, is in direct response to plummeting poll numbers on the issue of immigration and Biden's need to stop the bleeding among large swaths of the electorate.

In response to Biden's reported plans, AOC took to X to voice her displeasure, saying, “Doing Trump impressions isn't how we beat Trump.”

Apparently, however, there seem to be more than a few people within the president's re-election campaign who – at least on this issue – think otherwise.