Fact Check: Did Darializa Avila Chevalier Call to Abolish Prisons, Borders and End Deportations?

What was claimed: On CNN’s State of the Union (July 5, 2026), host Dana Bash said Darializa Avila Chevalier “called for the abolition of prisons, open borders, end of deportations, even people convicted of violent crimes.” Right‑wing outlets including RedState amplified that summary as evidence of a far‑left takeover of the Democratic Party. What the evidence shows: A CNN KFile review of preserved copies of Avila Chevalier’s now-deleted social-media account identified hundreds of tweets and reposts (from roughly 2018–2022) that contained language endorsing the abolition of police, prisons and borders and calling for open borders or zero deportations. The Washington Post and other outlets independently reported the same archive and noted specific posts and reposts that used abolitionist language. Rally attendance and related context: City & State, the New York Times (images & video), and other reporting show Avila Chevalier attended a pro‑Palestinian rally in Times Square on Oct. 8, 2023 — one day after the Hamas attack — an event that became controversial because some speakers and chants at the rally were widely condemned. Photographs and contemporary reporting place her at the event. Missing nuance the RedState piece omitted: The social‑media material underlying the claim was largely from earlier years and has been deleted from the candidate’s account; outlets reporting the archive emphasize that many items were reposts from others as well as original posts. Avila Chevalier has said in interviews that her tone and language have changed and, in some cases, apologized for coarse language while also defending the underlying policy views (for example, opposing deportations as discriminatory). Those qualifications are important when presenting the past posts as a current platform. How to read the claim: The specific factual assertion — that Avila Chevalier previously posted or reposted content calling to abolish police, prisons, and borders and opposing deportations — is supported by CNN KFile and independent reporting. Framing that evidence as an unqualified, present-day mandate for the candidate or as proof that the whole Democratic Party has been 'hijacked' is an extrapolation that the evidence does not sustain without additional proof. Bottom line: The core factual elements Dana Bash cited (and RedState repeated) are supported by archival evidence and mainstream reporting. However, the omission of timing, deletion of posts, and the candidate’s subsequent comments makes the RedState presentation misleadingly one-dimensional. Readers should note both the underlying archived posts and the context about their age, deletion, and the candidate’s more recent statements. What reporters should check next: review the CNN KFile archive excerpts directly, consult the preserved Internet Archive copies referenced by KFile, and seek direct comment from Avila Chevalier about specific posts and whether her platform now endorses those positions in current campaign literature.