In Her Own Words: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Describes the “Intentional Cruelty” She Saw Inside a Migrant Detention Center

Listen to the congresswoman recount shocking conditions at the border, on this special edition of the Mother Jones Podcast.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, of New York, gets in an SUV after touring the inside of the Border Patrol station in Clint, Texas, on Monday.Cedar Attanasio/AP

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On Monday, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) joined a 16-member congressional delegation that got a rare glimpse inside three highly fortified migrant detention facilities, which she has referred to as “concentration camps.” Mother Jones contributor Jonathan Katz, who writes the “The Long Version” newsletter, accompanied the delegation to the sites, though reporters were not permitted inside. Later, he sat down with Ocasio-Cortez to get her perspective on what had happened during the day, how we got here, and where things might go next. Click here to read Katz’s dispatch from Texas and a full transcript of the interview. And listen below to our exclusive sit-down with the congresswoman who has catapulted the issue to national attention, on this bonus episode of the Mother Jones Podcast:

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

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