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Photos: Critics call out Ocasio-Cortez for dramatic reaction to ’empty parking lot’

Controversy erupted after new photos of an emotional Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) at the border were shared widely on social media. In the photos, which were taken during a protest near a Texas detention facility in June 2018, Ocasio-Cortez appears distraught and overcome with emotion as she gazes through a chain link fence.

What was on the other side of the fence was not shown in any of those photos, but to many viewers, her expressions implied a tragic scene. Critics, however, soon called attention to other photos of the event, which revealed that Ocasio-Cortez was looking at what appeared to be a mostly empty parking lot, with no children in sight.

Emotional photos

The “previously unpublished” photos were first shared on Twitter by El Paso, Texas-based photojournalist Ivan Pierre Aguirre on Monday. “Before @AOC hit the national stage & was just a fairly unknown House candidate frm NYC,she took time awy frm her campaign & came dwn to #Tornillo to protest the #tentcity housing migrant children.I made these previously unpublished fotos a yr ago today. #elpaso #aoc #onassignment,” Aguirre captioned the photos.

“I saw with my own eyes”

Ocasio-Cortez re-tweeted Aguirre’s post, adding her commentary: “I’ll never forget this, because it was the moment I saw with my own eyes that the America I love was becoming a nation that steals refugee children from their parents & caged them.”

“More kids died after this. To date, no one has been held accountable. We need to save these kids,” she added.

Critics question sincerity

Skeptical Twitter users questioned the authenticity and sincerity of the photos, not to mention the timing of their release. Some suggested the photos were nothing more than a carefully staged photo opportunity for the upstart politician.

A spokesman for Ocasio-Cortez denied the criticism in a brief statement to The Hill, saying, “I cannot control what kind of right-wing garbage shows up on the bottom of the posts.” The spokesman added that the allegations the photos were fake or staged were “in no way related to reality or truth.”

A parking lot?

But it didn’t take long before photos from different angles began to circulate online, serving only to deepen the skepticism. “Such a powerful photo of @AOC crying over a parking lot. Good acting,” commented one Twitter user.

“This one is my personal fave. So compelling. So gut wrenching. It must’ve been very difficult to see all those cars in the parking lot… all alone,” another wrote.

Photographer explains

In response to growing allegations that the photos were staged, Snopes.com published an explanation from the photographer. Aguirre explained that the protesters weren’t allowed to get any closer to the detention facility. “It wasn’t an empty parking lot; it’s an entrance and we [media and protesters] weren’t allowed to go past that,” he told Snopes.

“She finally got to the fence and right beyond that road, way to the left, was the [migrant tent city] camp, and it represented something that made her emotional,” he said.

All eyes on the border

Ocasio-Cortez also recently stirred up controversy by calling the temporary migrant detention facilities for children at the U.S. southern border “concentration camps,” invoking imagery of the World War II-era Nazi-run concentration camps. Despite criticism, she has only doubled down on the description.

Meanwhile, Congress took action to address the border crisis this week. The Department of Homeland Security had been begging for additional resources for months, citing ever-increasing numbers of migrants who are flooding the border — but a horrifying photo showing a father and child who drowned while crossing the Rio Grande river finally spurred lawmakers into action.

Saying “the children come first,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “reluctantly” passed a bipartisan Senate border aid bill Thursday. Though the Senate bill authorized $4.6 billion in emergency aid funding, it did not include many of the stipulations included in the House version by progressive Democrats — leading Ocasio-Cortez to loudly denounce the move.



Photos: Critics call out Ocasio-Cortez for dramatic reaction to ’empty parking lot’ Photos: Critics call out Ocasio-Cortez for dramatic reaction to ’empty parking lot’ Reviewed by The News on Donal Trump on June 29, 2019 Rating: 5

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