Ocasio-Cortez Claims Climate Change Is 'Fueling' Global Migrant Crisis
On the same day Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York suggested failure to act on climate change would leave lawmakers with “blood on our hands,” she also blamed climate change for causing the dislocation of millions through the global migrant crisis.
“The far-right loves to drum up fear & resistance to immigrants. But have you ever noticed they never talk about what‘s causing people to flee their homes in the first place?” she wrote in a Twitter post.
“Perhaps that’s bc they’d be forced to confront 1 major factor fueling global migration: Climate change,” she tweeted.
The far-right loves to drum up fear & resistance to immigrants.
But have you ever noticed they never talk about what‘s causing people to flee their homes in the first place?
Perhaps that’s bc they’d be forced to confront 1 major factor fueling global migration:
Climate change. https://t.co/zyJzTjEgHt
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) April 9, 2019
However, as Fox News noted Wednesday, the migrant crisis in the United States is being driven by the extreme poverty and brutal violence wracking Central American countries, fostered by gangs like MS-13.
“El Salvador has one of the highest murder rates in the world, due in part, to gangs like MS-13, which was started by Salvadoran immigrants in the U.S. and spread to El Salvador and other countries” Fox News reported.
“In Honduras, nearly two-thirds of the population, or almost 5.5 million people, live in poverty, according to the World Bank. Per capita income averages just $120 per month.”
Ocasio-Cortez’ claim was disputed by many Twitter users.
Ocasio-Cortez appears to be blaming the crisis on the southern border on climate change
DHS has said most of the people the encounter on the border are economic migrants pic.twitter.com/dVjyqf16PF
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) April 10, 2019
Ocasio-Cortez Claims Climate Change Is ‘Fueling’ The Migrant Caravans. It’s Not https://t.co/oSqZKdeFuY pic.twitter.com/tnGTRbzQg7
— Climate Dispatch (@ccdeditor) April 10, 2019
Ocasio-Cortez had spoken out about the dangers of refusing to address climate change during a House Oversight Committee hearing that featured former Secretary of State John Kerry.
“So I think what we have laid out here is a very clear moral problem and in terms of leadership, if we fail to act or even if we delay in acting, we will have blood on our hands,” Ocasio-Cortez said, according to Fox News.
When asked if he agreed, Kerry seemed happy to do so.
“As long as we do nothing, we are complicit in our acts of omission and commission,” Kerry said, according to the New York Daily News.
“We’re going to contribute to people dying. We’re going to contribute to trillions of dollars of damage of property, and we will change the face of life on this planet.”
Kerry later praised Ocasio-Cortez, a driving force behind the controversial Green New Deal.
“(I)n proposing what she has proposed together with Sen. (Ed) Markey, Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez has in fact offered more leadership in one day or in one week than President Trump has in his lifetime on this subject.” Kerry said, according to CNN.
Republicans suggested that the Green New Deal was not the panacea its supporters claimed.
“I’m not sure this hearing is about getting truth. … I think it’s about the Green New Deal and the regulations and the central government planning and the politics that come with it,” said Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio.
“The Green New Deal is not new, but it is devastating,” he said.
Another Republican said it is one thing to create a proposal and another thing to make it work.
“I don’t criticize (Ocasio-Cortez) for her plan, but what I do question is, everything has a price tag. You got to figure out how to pay for something along with proposing what you want to do,” said Republican Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina, according to USA Today.
“I think it’s irresponsible to do anything other than that,” he added.
Ocasio-Cortez said her critics don’t get it.
“While I am incredibly flattered that the ranking member and many members across the aisle seem to be so enamored with a non-binding resolution presented by a freshman congresswoman sworn in three months ago, I think that ironically — despite that fixation — it doesn’t seem that they’ve actually read the contents of the proposed and presented resolution. We don’t need CliffsNotes for a 14-page resolution that was designed to be read in plain English by the American people,” she said, the New York Post reported.
She also replied to claims that her plan was a form of socialism.
“It is not responsible to complain about anything that we may dislike as, quote unquote, ‘socialism,’ particularly when many of our colleagues across the aisle are more than happy to support millions and potentially billions of dollars in government subsidies and carveouts for the oil and gas and fossil fuel industry.
“The fact that subsidies for fossil fuel corporations are somehow smart, but subsidies for the development of solar panels somehow is, quote unquote, ‘socialist,’ is just bad faith, and it’s incorrect,” she said.
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