On Sunday, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said that the rise in crime in New York City is happening because many residents are jobless and therefore “scared to pay their rent.”

The Democrat made her remarks during a Zoom video call that was posted on social media by The Hill.

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AOC first said that the recent $1 billion cut to the New York City Police Department’s budget wasn’t “really real.”

CNN reported on July 1, “The approved budget includes nearly $484 million in cuts and will reallocate $354 million to other agencies best positioned to carry out the duties that have been previously assigned to the New York Police Department, like the Department of Education, the Department of Health & Mental Hygiene and the Department of Homeless Services.”

“Another $162 million was slashed through ‘associated costs,’ the council said in a statement,” CNN noted.

CNN continued, “The approved budget also moves about $500 million of the department’s capital budget to other ‘badly needed infrastructure,’ the City Council said, and reduces overtime spending by $352 million.”

Ocasio-Cortez asked, “So why is this uptick in crime happening? Well, let’s think about it. Do we think this has to do with the fact there’s record unemployment in the United States right now? The fact that people are at a level of economic desperation that we have not seen since the Great Recession.”

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“Maybe this has to do with the fact that people aren’t paying their rent and are scared to pay their rent, and so they go out and they need to feed their child and they don’t have money so you maybe have to, they’re put in a position where they feel like they either need to shoplift some bread or go hungry that night,” AOC continued.

“Maybe it’s the fact that unemployment provisions have not been given to [everyone],” Ocasio-Cortez claimed. “Maybe it’s because the fact that people, some people still haven’t gotten their stimulus checks yet.”

Ocasio-Cortez believing that rising crime rate is somehow people simply stealing to feed their families ignores the widespread looting of luxury stores and also the fact that Democratic New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio refused to deploy the National Guard to restore order and quell violence.

AOC’s supposed concern for people being jobless is also absurd in light of her celebrating earlier this year that some might lose their jobs after a crash in oil prices. She’s also the culprit who admonished people to not go back to work.

This piece originally appeared in ThePoliticalInsider.com and is used by permission.

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