Fox News pundit spews out an absurd and disturbing smear against Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Rachel Campos-Duffy, a regular contributor at Fox News, suggested Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. could be "working" for criminal cartels, terrorists and sex traffickers because of her opposition to the Department of Homeland Security.

This article was originally published at Salon

During an appearance on "The Story with Martha MacCallum," Campos-Duffy responded to a quote from Ocasio-Cortez, in which she told "New Yorker Radio Hour" that "we need to undo a lot of the egregious mistakes that the Bush administration did."

Ocasio-Cortez added, "It is a very qualified and supported position, at least in terms of evidence, and in terms of being able to make the argument that we never should have created DHS in the early 2000s."

Campos-Duffy expressed outrage at Ocasio-Cortez's statements, characterizing them as more beneficial to America's enemies than American citizens.

"No offense, but I think you're being disingenuous about her concerns about DHS," Campos-Duffy told her fellow panelist. "She's hardly concerned about — Many conservatives were worried that we're creating this big federal agency when Bush created it. That is not the concern that AOC has. AOC likes big federal agencies — the bigger, the better. Her concern is with the mission of DHS. She doesn't just want to eliminate DHS. She wants to abolish ICE. She wants to get rid of Border Patrol. She agrees with Julián Castro in decriminalizing illegal border entry."

"So we're looking at someone who basically wants to give you the wish-list for terrorists, the wish-list for criminal cartels and sex traffickers," Campos-Duffy continued. "And you have to wonder: Is she working for them? Or is she working for the American people?"

Ocasio-Cortez has emerged as an outspoken opponent of President Donald Trump's border policies, drawing attention to human rights abuses at detention facilities in a series of tweets after visiting the southern border last week.

"Just left the 1st CBP facility. I see why CBP officers were being so physically &sexually threatening towards me. Officers were keeping women in cells w/ no water & had told them to drink out of the toilets. This was them on their GOOD behavior in front of members of Congress," wrote in her initial tweet.

In a follow up she wrote, "Now I’ve seen the inside of these facilities. It’s not just the kids. It’s everyone. People drinking out of toilets, officers laughing in front of members Congress. I brought it up to their superiors. They said 'officers are under stress & act out sometimes.' No accountability."

She then posted a two-tweet thread, in which she wrote, "After I forced myself into a cell w/ women&began speaking to them, one of them described their treatment at the hands of officers as 'psychological warfare' - waking them at odd hours for no reason, calling them wh*res, etc. Tell me what about that is due to a 'lack of funding?' Now I’m on my way to Clint, where the Trump admin was denying children toothpaste and soap. This has been horrifying so far. It is hard to understate the enormity of the problem. We’re talking systemic cruelty w/ a dehumanizing culture that treats them like animals."

You can watch Campos-Duffy's full appearance on Fox News here: