White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks with reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Monday, July 7, 2025, in Washington.
"We certainly call on Democrats to tone down their rhetoric against ICE and Border Patrol agents, who, again, are everyday men and women. I would encourage AOC and other Democrats to actually meet with the United States Border Patrol," Leavitt told reporters on Monday. "These are honorable Americans who are just simply trying to do their job to enforce the law. They go home to their families every night, just like we all do, and they deserve respect and dignity for trying to enforce our nation's immigration laws and to remove public safety threats from our communities."
A spokesperson for Ocasio-Cortez did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
DHS: ASSAULTS ON ICE NOW UP NEARLY 700% OVER SAME TIME LAST YEAR
Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on May 24, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Getty Images)
Meanwhile, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., accused ICE of acting "like a terrorist force" in June. Jayapal defended her comments in an interview with CNN Wednesday, after the White House demanded an apology from the lawmaker.
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"What is deranged and cruel and outrageous is that, literally, we are seeing ICE agents, I assume they‘re ICE agents," Jayapal said in an interview with CNN. "They say they are. They don‘t have any identification. They‘re wearing masks. They‘re in plain clothes. They are coming and kidnapping and disappearing people on the streets of the United States."
Fox News' Danielle Wallace and Bill Melugin contributed to this report.
Diana Stancy is a politics reporter with Fox News Digital covering the White House.
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