Cruz mocks Ocasio-Cortez in Senate floor speech, challenges Dems to 'go see the Biden cages'

Republican Sen. Ted Cruz mocked Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her previous visit to a migrant facility, and issued a "simple challenge" to her and her colleagues to visit the "Biden cages" holding migrants amid the border crisis. 

"Mr. President, every Democrat who stood up and lamented kids in cages, in the House of Representatives, Representative Ocasio-Cortez, has a famous photo of her grasping her head by the kids in cages," Cruz said as he imitated the photo. "Well, I’m going to give a simple challenge for Representative Ocasio-Cortez and for every Democrat in this body. Go see the Biden cages with your own eyes."

Cruz’s comments came during a Senate floor speech on Wednesday regarding the influx of Haitian migrants at the U.S. border with Mexico, with more than 14,000 migrants seen camped under a bridge in Del Rio, Texas. Cruz called out Democrats for not visiting the border to witness the crisis, while noting they were vocal about migration facilities during the Trump administration. 

"Why does Joe Biden refuse to go to the Rio Grande Valley? Because if he goes, the TV cameras will come with him," Cruz added later in his speech. "Why does Kamala Harris, who’s supposed to be the border czar, she’s supposed to be in charge of this, why won’t she go to the Rio Grande Valley? Because if she went, the TV cameras would come and would show the Biden cages. And the Democrats are counting on the corrupt corporate media to suddenly say nothing to see here. 15,000 Haitians under a bridge in Del Rio. Nothing to see here. Anyone want to know what Joe Biden’s favorite ice cream flavor is? That’s the news!"

Ocasio-Cortez visited a West Texas city housing migrant children in 2018 under the Trump administration, and was photographed standing near fencing, with her hands over her face, appearing visibly upset. 

"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," Ocasio-Cortez said on Twitter of the photos. 

The New York congresswoman was criticized on social media for the photos, with many describing them as a "photo-op" and "staged." Her office, however, pushed back on the claims, saying at the time that the allegations are "in no way related to reality or truth."