Mark Morgan, acting commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, hit hard against those who are “demonizing” Border Patrol agents and directly called out members of Congress.

“The men and women of CBP are not running concentration camps, making those in our custody drink from toilets, nor denying them access to toothbrushes. That is simply not true,” Morgan said Tuesday during a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing. “This is the kind of irresponsible rhetoric that they have to endure from both the media and even some of our own congressional leaders.”

The committee’s hearing–titled “Unprecedented Migration at the U.S. southern border: What is required to improve conditions?”– examined the crisis along the U.S.-Mexico border and the living conditions in the detention centers that are housing thousands of migrants.

During his opening statements, Morgan spoke about an incident in May when Border Patrol agents observed a group of migrant smugglers deliberately throw  a paraplegic man into the Rio Grande River.  

Agents with the Border Patrol Sector Search, Trauma, and Rescue were able to act swiftly, fighting against the river’s strong currents, and rescue the handicapped man before he drowned, Morgan said.

Had it not been for the quick actions of the Border Patrol, he said, the man would have been one of the 172 deaths discovered along the southwest border in recent time. The man’s rescue was one of more than 4,000 rescues made by Customs and Border Protection this year. Stories like this, he said, mostly go unreported by the media.

“This is who the men and women of the United States Customs and Border Protection are. They risk their lives every single day to help and protect whomever is in distress,” Morgan said.

Morgan continued to hammer those who he claimed are vilifying the agency:

It’s unjust and does nothing to bring us closer to resolving one of the most divisive issues that we face in our country. ... These false, misinformed, and overheated attacks are demoralizing, and serves to further deteriorate the public’s understanding and perception of what the true issues are and what needs to be done to end this crisis.

Mentions of toilet water and concentration camps were clear references to attacks popularized by freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.

“I can tell you with the utmost confidence that the migrants ... have ready access to fresh water,” CBP Deputy Commissioner Robert Perez said earlier in July. “I’ve never heard, in 26 years of being in this business, ever heard of that type of allegation being made.”