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AOC mocks 'proud Latina' Kimberly Guilfoyle for claiming Puerto Ricans are immigrants: 'We are native descendants'

Trump's senior advisor delivered a speech endorsing him at the RNC 2020 but erred when she said her mother, a Puerto Rican, was an immigrant

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez mocked Kimberly Guilfoyle following her fiery speech on the opening night of the Republican National Convention on Monday, August 24, where she claimed her mother was an immigrant even though she's from Puerto Rico.

Guilfoyle, an American attorney, prosecutor, and television personality who has been in the headlines after she confirmed she was dating Donald Trump Jr. in 2018 had delivered a "high-energy" speech where she slammed the Democrats for wanting to "defund, dismantle and destroy America's law enforcement," praised President Donald Trump as the only man who could save the economy, and spoke of "her pride for her Latina heritage."

"My mother Mercedes was a special education teacher from Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. My father, also an immigrant, came to this nation in pursuit of the American dream," she said, before adding that it was her "duty to fight to protect that dream" from "the socialist Biden- Harris future for our country."

Ocasio-Cortez, whose father was born to a Puerto Rican family and whose mother was born in Puerto Rico, was quick to point out the fallacy in Guilfoyle's claim that Puerto Ricans are counted as immigrants and attacked the Fox News host for seemingly suggesting that people from the territory were not citizens of the country.

"The woman the GOP picked as their “proud Latina" to tout “immigrant experience” didn’t seem to know that Puerto Rico is already part of the United States," she tweeted. "It’s quite on message, bc it reflects their belief that Latinos aren’t real citizens, even when we are Native descendants."

In her tweet, Ocasio referenced Andrea González-Ramírez, a senior writer with Gen Magazine who had first explained why Guilfoyle's statement had been a problematic one. "Proud Latina" Kimberly Guilfoyle should know that Puerto Ricans like her mother Mercedes have been U.S. citizens since 1917," González-Ramírez had posted. "Therefore, she was not an "immigrant."

The writer went on to admit that there was a conversation to be had about how the lives of Puerto Ricans were closer to the immigrant experience than other types of relocation inside the United States but that was certainly not what Guilfoyle had been getting at since she had equated the experiences of her Puerto Rican mother with those of her Irish father.

"This is my personal opinion and too complicated for Twitter but: Migrate as in move, yes. Immigrate, no. Our experiences in the diaspora are close to the immigrant experience because our colonial status. However, we don't face the challenges of the immigration system," she explained. "Nearly half of Americans don't know that Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens to begin with, or that Puerto Rico is a "territory." Using accurate language to explain our identity and status is important if we want to then talk about the complexity of the colonial relationship."

"Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory which means they have one congressional representative (that can't vote) and no senators. Islanders are still U.S. citizens," she later added in response to someone who questioned the legitimacy of her claims by pointing out that Puerto Rico did not have Senators.