Immigration Enforcement Expert and Attorney Blasts Ocasio-Cortez

One of the nation’s most knowledgeable experts on the subject of immigration enforcement is making the rounds of conferences and news outlets explaining the ridiculous statements being spouted by admitted-socialist U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and other supposed grownups in government.

For example, this week the politician dubbed “AOC” by the fawning leftists working for the majority of news outlets accused her own country — the United States of America – of operating concentration camps throughout the United States’ southern border region. In a past show, AOC – and other Democrats in Congress especially those seeking their party’s presidential nomination – have accused President Donald Trump and his Homeland Security agencies such as Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBD), of ripping babies and children out of the arms of their illegal alien parents.

On Wednesday, the National Association of Chiefs of Police (NACOP) received a press statement from Matthew J. O’Brien who serves as Director of Research at the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), a not-for-profit organization that for years has studied and exposed out-of-control U.S. immigration. O’Brien has served that nation for over 20 years. His experience working in federal government and non-government organizations (NGO) focuses on immigration.

O’Brien’s press statement to NACOP came when Ocasio-Cortez hunkered down to defend herself against intense criticism after she falsely claimed that the United States is operating concentration camps on the southern border during an Instagram live video she recorded on Monday night.

O’Brien, whose background includes being an attorney, blasted Ocasio-Cortez’s attempt to conflate the terms “concentration camp” and “internment camp” with the detention facilities on the southern border. Basically, he shattered her credibility.

“This is yet another example of Democratic Party extremism. It’s not that Democrats don’t believe this rhetoric, it just means they don’t want all of the Americans to know what their truly believe and what is their ultimate goal,” said Craig Avalon, a former drug enforcement agent. “Ocasio-Cortez should be treated by GOP lawmakers as the pariah she is,” he added.

“I think the point that Representative Ocasio-Cortez is missing is that a concentration camp typically refers to a detention facility where a totalitarian regime’s political enemies are kept and the purpose is to nullify them as political enemies,” O’Brien said.

“Internment camp is a general term that in international law and in typical usage refers to a place where people are held temporarily in a conflict because they are either from an enemy power, from a non-allied power, and there is some sort of national security concern or other internal security concern associated with them. Whereas, an immigration detention facility is where people are held pursuant to a democratically passed law because they have no authorization to be in the country and they are temporarily held there while the government is evaluating their claim to any kind of immigration relief and those facilities are regulated.”

“The distinction between a concentration camp, which is usually regulated by the totalitarian government’s security forces, an Internment facility, which is usually regulated by the military or by a paramilitary security force, and immigration detention, is that immigration detention is monitored by the courts and anyone who is in immigration detention has access to the courts to contest any issues they may have with the detention,” O’Brien continued.

“So to contrast between a totalitarian government using the force of the state to terrorize its political enemies, the temporary internment of people who represent a national security threat … versus a legal process that is designed to protect the safety and security both of the United States and of the people coming into the country because one of the reasons why we detain people in immigration detention is to figure out who they are so we can vet them but also so that we can determine what their purpose is here,” said the veteran law enforcement officer.

O’Brien also recommended that Ocasio-Cortez read Michelle Malkin’s book “In Defense Of Internment,” which he said he thought “was a very good explanation of what went on during World War II and why it went on.”

O’Brien noted that illegal aliens are actually detained not only for the safety of American citizens but for their safety as well so that they are not taken advantage of.

“If they are simply looking for a job and don’t have authorization to work, we as a responsible society don’t want to throw them out into the United States where as illegal aliens without authorization to work, they can be exploited by unscrupulous employers,” O’Brien added.

O’Brien also added that this tactic of oversimplifying issues which leads to confusion is a “common tactic” of Ocasio-Cortez.

“So, this is kind of a gross oversimplification on an issue that leads to all kinds of misunderstandings and I think that’s been a common tactic of Representative Ocasio-Cortez,” O’Brien concluded.

According to his bio, O’Brien has held the following positions:

Over the past twenty years he has held a wide variety of positions focusing on immigration issues, both in government and in the private sector. Immediately prior to joining FAIR Matt served as the Chief of the National Security Division (NSD) within the Fraud Detection and National Security Directorate (FDNS) at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), where he was responsible for formulating and implementing procedures to protect the legal immigration system from terrorists, foreign intelligence operatives, and other national security threats.

He has also held positions as the Chief of the FDNS Policy and Program Development Unit, as the Chief of the FDNS EB-5 Division, as Assistant Chief Counsel with U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement, as a Senior Advisor to the Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman, and as a District Adjudications Officer with the legacy Immigration & Naturalization Service. In addition, Matt has extensive experience as a private bar attorney. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in French from the Johns Hopkins University and a Juris Doctor from the University of Maine School of Law.