US President Donald Trump speaks to the media as he walks to Marine One prior to departing from the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC, July 5, 2019.
Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images
President Donald Trump said Sunday that progressive Democratic congresswomen should return to the countries where they came from in a series of tweets that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi labelled “xenophobic.”
“So interesting to see ‘Progressive’ Democrat Congresswomen, who originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe, the worst, most corrupt and inept anywhere in the world (if they even have a functioning government at all), now loudly and viciously telling the people of the United States, the greatest and most powerful Nation on earth, how our government is to be run,” Trump wrote in a series of tweets Sunday morning.
Trump did not specify who he was referring to but was likely tweeting about four Democratic freshman members of Congress: Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib. All four women of color have opposed Trump on a number of issues, including the treatment of migrants at immigration detention facilities. Ocasio-Cortez, Pressley and Tlaib were born and raised in the United States, while Omar was born in Mogadishu, Somalia and became a U.S. citizen when she was 17.
“Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came. Then come back and show us how it is done. These places need your help badly, you can’t leave fast enough,” he added.
He ended the series of tweets by saying that he’s sure that “Nancy Pelosi would be very happy to quickly work out free travel arrangements!” The House Speaker has clashed repeatedly with the four freshmen Congresswomen from her party.
Pelosi tweeted in response that by telling four American congresswomen to go back to their countries, Trump “reaffirms his plan to ‘Make American Great Again’ has always been about making America white again.”
“Our diversity is our strength and our unity is our power,” she added.
In a second tweet, Pelosi wrote that she rejected Trump’s “xenophobic comments meant to divide our nation” and that the president should instead be working with Democrats on “humane” immigration policy.
“Stop the raids,” she wrote, referring to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportation raids that began yesterday across the country.
Representatives for Ocasio-Cortez, Pressley, Tlaib and Omar did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
