DONALD TRUMP has told a group of Democrat congresswomen to “go back to the places” they came from.
The US President made the comments in a Twitter tirade directed Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan.
The three politicians are among those to come out in opposition of the Trump administration’s latest crackdown on illegal immigration in the US.
Over the weekend, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) conducted the first in a series of planned raids set to take place across 10 US cities.
An estimated 2,100 illegal immigrants are set to be arrested or have already been detained.
That number includes Irish father-of-three Keith Byrne, who is facing deportation despite repeated attempts to gain the citizenship that would allow him to stay in the country with his American wife and children.
Democrat politicians like Ocasio-Cortez have widely condemned the policy, arguing it will culminate in the separation of families and detention of undocumented immigrants and their children, who were born in the US.
However, taking to Twitter, Trump launched a stinging attack on his critics, seeming singling out Ocasio-Cortez, Omar and Tlaib in controversial style.
Trump wrote: "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.
"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."
Omar, from Somalia, is the only one of the three who is foreign-born.
She responded: “Mr. President, As Members of Congress, the only country we swear an oath to is the United States. Which is why we are fighting to protect it from the worst, most corrupt and inept president we have ever seen.”
Mr. President,
As Members of Congress, the only country we swear an oath to is the United States.
Which is why we are fighting to protect it from the worst, most corrupt and inept president we have ever seen. https://t.co/FBygHa2QTt— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) July 14, 2019
Tlaib wrote on Twitter in the hours after the tweet was posted: "Want a response to a lawless and complete failure of a president?
"He is the crisis. His dangerous ideology is the crisis. He needs to be impeached."
Want a response to a lawless & complete failure of a President?
He is the crisis.
His dangerous ideology is the crisis.
He needs to be impeached.— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) July 14, 2019
Ocasio-Cortez responded:
“Mr. President, the country I “come from,” & the country we all swear to, is the United States. But given how you’ve destroyed our border with inhumane camps, all at a benefit to you & the corps who profit off them, you are absolutely right about the corruption laid at your feet.”
You are angry because you can’t conceive of an America that includes us. You rely on a frightened America for your plunder.
You won’t accept a nation that sees healthcare as a right or education as a #1 priority, especially where we’re the ones fighting for it.
Yet here we are.— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 14, 2019
Despite the criticism, Trump refused to back down over the comments:
"So sad to see the Democrats sticking up for people who speak so badly of our country and who, in addition, hate Israel with a true and unbridled passion,” he later wrote on Twitter.
"Whenever confronted, they call their adversaries, including Nancy Pelosi, 'RACIST'.
"Their disgusting language and the many terrible things they say about the United States must not be allowed to go unchallenged.
"If the Democrat Party wants to continue to condone such disgraceful behaviour, then we look even more forward to seeing you at the ballot box in 2020!"
