Yesterday, efforts to degrade border security by demonizing those who guard the integrity of our territory against the escalating wave of unlawful intruders reached a new level of emotional appeal.  Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other House Democrats toured a detention facility for the border near El Paso, Texas and made the claim that they are being treated inhumanely and forced to drink from toilets.

Because the congresswoman is on the record stating that it is more important to be "morally right" than "factually correct," all of her claims should be subjected to skeptical review:

“There's a lot of people more concerned about being precisely, factually, and semantically correct than about being morally right,” @AOC says in response to criticism that she’s made factual errors. https://t.co/sKf3sHl9F6 pic.twitter.com/xKc2eB7GEk

— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) January 7, 2019

David Martosko of the U.K. Daily Mail tweeted out a picture of the type of toilets that Ocasio-Cortez probably referenced, and she replied:

I haven't seen photo of the Clint, TX facilities that @AOC described today, but it would be interesting if "drinking from the toilet" meant drinking from an attached sink marked "potable water" -- like this image from a CBP holding facility in Tuscon (filed in federal court). pic.twitter.com/uDbhy1GPOa

— David Martosko (@dmartosko) July 1, 2019

This was in fact the type of toilet we saw in the cell.

Except there was just one, and the sink portion was not functioning - @AyannaPressley smartly tried to open the faucet, and nothing came out.

So the women were told they could drink out of the bowl. https://t.co/rcu9Rt6B2x

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 1, 2019

Ocasio-Cortez did not provide a picture but claimed that her smart phone was confiscated, though, amazingly, her colleague was able to take photos:

Members of Congress had to surrender their phones before today’s CBP trip.

But @JoaquinCastrotx was able to get a device in. This photo is of the women we spoke to.

We asked their permission to photograph - they said yes, please share what’s happening. https://t.co/4ZhOMlEBVA

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 1, 2019

It would not be surprising if one toilet-sink combination was out of order, given the vast increase in purported families claiming asylum and the resulting overcrowding and starvation of funds for their care (Ocasio-Cortez voted against supplying more funds to, for instance, fix sinks).  Ocasio-Cortez is quoting the allegation of one woman, which may be "morally right" but not "factually correct."

Meanwhile, her own alleged behavior at the facility, in front of 40 witnesses, is disturbing.  Anna Giaritelli reports in the Washington Examiner:

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., screamed at federal law enforcement agents "in a threatening manner" during a visit to a Border Patrol facility in El Paso, Texas, and refused to tour the facility, according to two people who witnessed the incident.

A group of 14 House Democrats, including Ocasio-Cortez, and their aides kicked off their visit to the region at about 11 a.m. MST Monday at the El Paso Station on Hondo Pass Drive.

The group was standing inside the station near an area where migrants are held when Ocasio-Cortez left them to sit inside a nearby holding area with a family as the other lawmakers and aides were briefed on station operations.

"She comes out screaming at our agents, right at the beginning [of the tour] … Crying and screaming and yelling," said one witness who said he was stunned by the outburst in front of approximately 40 people.

"The agents, they wanted to respond, but they held back because she's a congressional delegate. But when you have someone yelling at you in a threatening manner … " the same person said. "They were like, 'Hey, you need to kinda step back.'"

A second official said she went in and out of the cell during the group's briefing nearby and returned to the group several times to share information she had learned from detainees, including that one person had drunk from a toilet. (snip)

A second official said that while she was around agents, Ocasio-Cortez commented at another point about an unofficial Border Patrol Facebook page that was exposed earlier Monday for offensive content about those in custody and lawmakers, including the congresswoman.

"Something under her breath, 'Oh, all these guys in here are gonna f--- me.' The agents are standing there behind the computers. One of the agents laughed at something he was saying to another agent, and she got irate and flipped out," the second Border Patrol official said. "Now they're under investigation for it. She took it as they were laughing at her and screams at them and says, 'What's so funny?'"

One thing about Ocasio-Cortez: It's always all about her and the evil people who stand in her way.  The expression "drama queen" does not begin to describe her appeals to emotion based on her personal notions of moral correctness not necessarily on facts.

Graphic credit: YouTube screen grab.