AOC tells NPR Republicans 'do not want to solve' illegal immigration problem—claims fix is 'path to citizenship' for undocumented people

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) accused Republicans of deliberately avoiding a real solution to the nation's immigration issues and argued that a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants is the best way to address the crisis.

During an interview with NPR host Steve Inskeep, Ocasio-Cortez was asked about how immigration is impacting Democrats’ support among working-class voters in the wake of President Donald Trump’s re-election, according to Fox News.

"To what extent is immigration, as an issue, part of your problem with working-class voters?" Inskeep asked.

"I guess my question would be, what does the word ‘problem’ mean?" Ocasio-Cortez replied.

"People voting for the other side and not for you," Inskeep explained.

The New York Democrat argued that the immigration crisis exists because of a "lack of progress" on the issue, and then blamed Republicans for what she described as a failure to pursue genuine solutions.

"It is a problem not just for Democrats, it’s a problem for the entire country that Republicans do not want to solve," Ocasio-Cortez claimed.

She went on to assert that granting citizenship to illegal immigrants would help reduce illegal immigration, stating, “They are completely uninterested in addressing undocumented people, in addressing a path to citizenship.”

Inskeep pushed back, noting that Republicans do, in fact, want to address illegal immigration by deporting those in the country illegally. The lawmaker criticized Republican-backed enforcement efforts, particularly the Laken Riley Act, claiming it strips illegal immigrants of due process rights. She further accused Republicans of lacking the infrastructure to carry out large-scale deportations.

"So they are actually creating-it’s not even about creating a deportation pipeline, they are creating a private prison camp pipeline, so they are still creating pipelines to just increase this problem here in the United States," she said.

When asked why immigration continues to be a political liability for Democrats if her arguments are correct, Ocasio-Cortez argued that the problem stems from a lack of comprehensive immigration reform and failure to expand pathways to citizenship.

"We have a large population of undocumented people in the US. Overwhelmingly, it is not because they crossed the southern border of the United States," she claimed. "It’s because they came here in a documented fashion and overstayed a visa and became undocumented. And it is the lack of ability for us to expand a path to citizenship, modernize paths to citizenship over decades that create this bubbling issue that Republicans are allowed to weaponize."