Lawmakers and the public are still reeling after President Donald Trump's Sunday morning tweets about a group of Democratic congresswomen of color.
Trump said the congresswomen should go back to the "broken and crime infested places from which they came." His comments ignored the fact that the women are American citizens and all but one was born in the U.S.
The president's tweets seem to target Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and her allies in what's become known as "the squad." The others are Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan. Only Omar, from Somalia, is foreign-born.
The tweets have been widely criticized by Congressional leaders, members of the House and Senators. On Sunday, the response from Democratic lawmakers in Michigan was swift.
Tlaib responded to the president on Twitter and said, "I am fighting corruption in OUR country. I do it every day when I hold your admin accountable as a U.S. Congresswoman. Detroit taught me how to fight for the communities you continue to degrade & attack."
Tlaib was also defended by some of her Michigan colleagues in the House. Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Holly), Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Flint) and Rep. Justin Amash (I-Grand Rapids) all described Trump's comments as "racist." Kildee and Slotkin also both said the president's tweets were "un-American."
Amash, a recent Republican now Independent, was the only non-Democratic House member in Michigan to issue a response on Sunday. He criticized the president further on Monday saying, "President Trump motivates and encourages this xenophobia. It has gotten exponentially worse since 2015."
Amash is the son of immigrants. He said he also gets comments telling him to "go back" even though he is American-born.
RELATED: Justin Amash quits Republican Party
Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Detroit) called the tweets "xenophobic" and said they were the worst the president has published. She and Rep. Brenda Lawrence (D-Detroit) both condemned the tweets as divisive.
Michigan Sen. Gary Peters (D) also weighed in on the criticisms: "The President’s comments that sitting members of Congress — who are American — should go back to the countries where they came from are wrong, racist and hurtful," he said Monday morning.
On Monday, Congressional Republicans started to respond to Trump's tweets. In Michigan, Rep. Fred Upton (R-St. Joseph) issued a statement in response. He said he was "appalled by the President's tweets," which were "flat out wrong and uncalled for."
Upton also blamed both sides of using "inflammatory rhetoric" and called on his colleagues to work together on issues like immigration, the debt ceiling and the border crisis.
Similarly, Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-Zeeland) said he "strongly" disagreed with Trump's comments. "Every duly elected official needs to lead by example, end the personal character assassination attacks, and focus on finding ways to work together to make America the very best it can be," he said.
Rep. Paul Mitchell (R-Dryden) shared Huizenga's sentiments saying that "we must be better than comments like these."
Out of Michigan's 14 Congressional representatives, 11 have issued statements reprimanding Trump. Of those, seven are Democrats, three are Republican and one is an Independent.
The Michigan Republican response does chastise the president, which some have said his party is reluctant to do. However, the Michigan GOP has yet to make a comment about the president's weekend tweets.
The president has responded to the sharp criticisms by saying Democrats are "sticking up for people who speak so badly of our country." He also said that "their disgusting language" needs to be challenged.
Trump's tweets put him in the middle of a dispute between Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and the liberal congresswomen. The Associated Press reports that Pelosi has been seeking to minimize Ocasio-Cortez's influence in Congress, and that prompted the freshman congresswoman from New York to accuse Pelosi of marginalizing women of color.
In a rare move, Trump came to Pelosi's defense in recent days. "She is not racist," he said on Friday. Despite the infighting among Democrats, Pelosi also decried Trump. She said the president wants to "make America white again."
Pelosi says the House will vote on a resolution condemning Trump's tweets. Schumer said Democrats will force a vote in the Senate.
RELATED: Trump unbowed by criticism of racist tweets, says 'If you're not happy here, then you can leave'
This is not the first time Trump has been accused of having racist views. His political career was launched on the backs of falsely claiming that President Barack Obama was not born in the United States. In his campaign kickoff in June 2015, he deemed many Mexican immigrants "rapists." And last year, during a White House meeting on immigration, he wondered why the United States was admitting so many immigrants from "shithole countries" like Haiti, El Salvador and several African nations, according to the Associated Press.
Ocasio-Cortez, who is of Puerto Rican descent, was born in the Bronx, New York, and raised in suburban Westchester County. She also responded to Trump on Sunday, saying "Mr. President, the country I 'come from,' & the country we all swear to, is the United States."
Pressley, the first black woman elected to the House from Massachusetts, was born in Cincinnati. She said, "THIS is what racism looks like. WE are what democracy looks like."
Omar, the first Somali native elected to Congress and one of its first Muslim women, was born in Somalia but spent much of her childhood in a Kenyan refugee camp as civil war tore apart her home country. She immigrated to the United States at age 12, teaching herself English by watching American TV and eventually settling with her family in Minneapolis. She responded to Trump by saying, "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."
Tlaib was born in Detroit.
The Associated Press contributed to this reporting.
►Make it easy to keep up to date with more stories like this. Download the 13 ON YOUR SIDE app now.
Have a news tip? Email news@13onyourside.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter.
