Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez accuses Trump of human rights violations: 'The president is racist'

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has doubled down on her claim that Donald Trump is racist, amid an ongoing government shutdown fuelled by the president’s anti-immigrant politics and nationalist world view.

Ms Ocasio-Cortez, who on Sunday called the president racist during an appearance on CBS’ 60 Minutes, reiterated her claim on Tuesday in a tweet that listed Mr Trump’s policies and history to make her case.

“The President defended Neo-Nazis who murdered a woman in Charlottesville. The Dept of Justice sued him for not renting to black tenants. He launched his campaign by calling Mexicans ‘rapists’. He banned Muslims,’ Ms Ocasio-Cortez tweeted.

She then put a finer point on the message: “The President is a racist.”

Her comments come as Mr Trump has refused to let-up on his demand for $5.7bn in border wall funding that has led to one of the longest government shutdowns in history.

Later on Tuesday, Mr Trump delivered his first prime time address from the Oval Office of his presidency, arguing that a porous border has left America vulnerable to immigrant crime and drugs.

Mr Trump’s claims on immigration have been frequently fact checked, and on Tuesday evening Ms Ocasio-Cortez weighed in after his speech to call the president’s border and immigration policies inhumane

“No one should feel unsafe in the United States of America. And that includes our amazing, and beautiful, and productive immigrant community,” she said during an appearance on MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Show.

She continued: “Moreover, the one thing that the president has not talked about is the fact that he has systematically engaged in the violation of international human rights … on our border. He has separated children from their families. He talked about what happened the day after Christmas — on the day of Christmas, a child died in ICE custody”.