‘An Assault on Free Speech’: Fox’s Turley Hits Back At Trump Border Czar Suggesting AOC Could Be Prosecuted

Alamy Live News via AP

Fox News legal analyst Jonathan Turley poured cold water all over Trump border czar Tom Homan’s suggestion that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) should be prosecuted for offering advice to illegal migrants about their rights when it comes to talking to law enforcement.

“Are you suggesting that she should be prosecuted?” CNN anchor Dana Bash asked Homan over the weekend.

“I’m suggesting that I would ask the Department of Justice, where’s that line on impediment, right? That’s a broad statute. So I know impeding, or someone stopping in front of me and putting their hands on my chest that you’re not coming in here to arrest that guy, that’s clearly impeding. But at what line—where’s the line on impeding?” Homan replied, adding:

I’m asking the Department of Justice, who are the prosecutors and decide who they prosecute, and what the standards of that prosecution is. I’m simply saying, at what point is that impeding? Because you can call it ‘Know Your Rights’ all you want. We all know the bottom line is, the bottom line is how they evade law enforcement. Don’t open your door. Don’t answer questions.

Homan again repeated the same answer when asked by Fox News anchor Bill Hemmer on Monday.

Turley took to X to make clear that such a prosecution would both be “baseless” and “an assault on free speech rights.”

“Border Czar Tom Homan doubled down last night that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) might be prosecuted for hosting a forum on ‘Know Your Rights’ for accused illegal aliens,” Turley wrote, adding:

Such a prosecution would be an assault on free speech rights. While AOC has never been a defender of free speech, principle demands something more from the rest of us who value the First Amendment. Just as VP Vance offered a powerful defense of free speech in Europe, this baseless threat undermines the high ground achieved in Munich.

Homan had made similar comments last week while on Fox News as well. Ocasio-Cortez hit back at the time writing, “’MaYbe shE’s goiNg to be in TroUble nOw.’ Maybe he can learn to read. The Constitution would be a good place to start.”

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