Ocasio-Cortez joins criticism of Fox News after '3 Mexican countries' on-air gaffe

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez joined a chorus of social media critics who tore into Fox News on Sunday for an error in an onscreen graphic...

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez joined a chorus of social media critics who tore into Fox News on Sunday for an error in an onscreen graphic that said President Donald Trump had cut "aid to 3 Mexican countries."

The graphic at the bottom of the screen, known as a chyron, appeared as "Fox & Friends" co-host Pete Hegseth discussed Trump's decision to "cut aid payments to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras over the fact that those countries have been unable to contain the flood of migrants heading through Mexico to our southern border."

The three Central American countries are entirely independent of Mexico.

"Just a reminder that these are the same folks who assert their superiority by belittling the intelligence and good faith of others," tweeted Ocasio-Cortez, the freshman New York Democrat whose far-left positions have made her a target for the conservative cable news network.

As her tweet implies, Ocasio-Cortez has been repeatedly mocked by the network and others on social media for her own gaffes or factual errors.

In one of the show's first segments on Sunday, the "Fox & Friends" hosts laughed at Ocasio-Cortez for her Friday statement on CNN that Congress passed the 22nd Amendment – which limits presidents to two terms – to prevent President Franklin Roosevelt from running a fifth time.

"Oh my goodness, this one," Hegseth said at the mention of her name.

"She occasionally gets a little ahead of the skis," co-host Ed Henry said.

The "Fox & Friends" hosts pointed out that Roosevelt died in 1945 while the amendment was not passed by Congress until 1947 and not ratified until 1951. But there is little dispute that Roosevelt – the first and only U.S. president to serve more than two terms – was the inspiration for the amendment.

Henry later apologized for the "3 Mexican countries" gaffe.

"We want to clarify and correct something that happened earlier in the show," Henry said. "We had an inaccurate graphic on screen while talking about this very story. We just want to be clear, the funding is being cut off to the three Central American countries. We apologize for the error."

"It never should’ve happened," Henry said.

The damage, though, was already done. Bad Fox Graphics, a Twitter account dedicated to spotting and sharing just those type of mistakes on Fox News, pounced and shared a screengrab of the error. Then the social media mockery and derision began.