BOSTON (WHDH) - President Donald Trump doubled down on tweets singling out four freshman congress members Sunday night as raids targeting undocumented immigrants are taking place in several cities across the country.
In tweets sent Sunday morning and evening, Trump took aim at four Democratic congresswomen, including one from New England. All are women and all are minorities.
“So interesting to see “Progressive” Democrat Congresswomen, who originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe … now loudly and viciously telling the people of the United States how our government is to be run,” Trump tweeted in part. “Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.”
Massachusetts Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, one of the members Trump was referring to, tweeted back “THIS is what racism looks like. WE are what democracy looks like. And we’re not going anywhere.”
Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, who was born in Somalia and became a U.S. citizen in 2000, is the only one of the four from outside the U.S. She tweeted, “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.”
The back and forth came on the same day immigration raids were set to take place in nine cities across the U.S. Trump has called for Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to arrest and deport some 2,000 undocumented immigrants, leading to criticism from Democratic presidential candidates.
“His slogan should be Make America Hate Again because he’s trying to foment division as a political campaign,” said New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who is also running for president. “It is what he’s doing with our ICE agents is not about securing our borders. It’s basically an electoral effort by President Trump.”
Immigration officials say these raids are nothing new for agents and they are targeting those who are in the U.S. illegally.
“The individuals that ICE goes after–and they do this every single day–are not individuals that are here undocumented,” said Acting ICE Director Mark Morgan. “They’re individuals that are here illegally. And in this case, their priority has always been and it will be to go after those that are criminal aliens, meaning those people that are here illegally and have committed additional crimes against American citizens.”
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