'Squad' members blast Trump over disparaging comments

Ms Ayanna Pressley was born in Cincinnati. She and the other three members of "the squad" have hit back at Mr Donald Trump over his remarks. PHOTO: REUTERS Above: Ms Ilhan Omar (in front) and Ms Rashida Tlaib are the first two Muslim women in Congres
Ms Ilhan Omar (in front) and Ms Rashida Tlaib are the first two Muslim women in Congress. PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Ms Ayanna Pressley was born in Cincinnati. She and the other three members of "the squad" have hit back at Mr Donald Trump over his remarks. PHOTO: REUTERS Above: Ms Ilhan Omar (in front) and Ms Rashida Tlaib are the first two Muslim women in Congres
Ms Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is from New York City, like President Donald Trump. PHOTO: NYTIMES
Ms Ayanna Pressley was born in Cincinnati. She and the other three members of "the squad" have hit back at Mr Donald Trump over his remarks. PHOTO: REUTERS Above: Ms Ilhan Omar (in front) and Ms Rashida Tlaib are the first two Muslim women in Congres
Ms Ayanna Pressley was born in Cincinnati. She and the other three members of “the squad” have hit back at Mr Donald Trump over his remarks. PHOTO: REUTERS

WASHINGTON • US President Donald Trump did not name the lawmakers he disparaged as "progressive Democratic congresswomen" who he said "originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe".

But those remarks, made in a series of tweets on Sunday, appeared to be aimed at a group of outspoken, relatively young, liberal women of colour, who are all first-time members of the House of Representatives.

Widely known as "the squad", they are representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota.

All four women won election to Congress last year. All but one of them were born in the US.

Like Mr Trump, Ms Ocasio-Cortez is from New York City; Ms Pressley was born in Cincinnati and Ms Tlaib was born in Detroit. Ms Omar was born in Somalia and her family fled the country amid civil war when she was a child. She became a US citizen as a teenager.

Ms Omar has been vocal about her life as a refugee, only to be disappointed with the country she found.

More than any of the others in her freshman group, Ms Omar - who with Ms Tlaib make up the first two Muslim women in Congress - has forcefully used her personal story to make the argument that loving America does not require an acceptance of its shortcomings.

"I grew up in an extremely unjust society, and the only thing that made my family excited about coming to the United States was that the United States was supposed to be the country that guaranteed justice to all," Ms Omar recently said. "So, I feel it necessary for me to speak about that promise that's not kept."

After Mr Trump's tweets on Sunday, she said: "As Members of Congress, the only country we swear an oath to is the United States."

The other three were just as caustic.

Ms Pressley said in a statement that "it should come as no surprise that a man who has made it his goal to dehumanise and rip apart immigrant families would so brazenly display the racism that drives his policies".

Ms Tlaib warned Mr Trump in a tweet: "Keep talking, you'll be out of the WH (White House) soon."

Ms Ocasio-Cortez sent a string of tweets defiantly addressing the President.

"You are angry because you can't conceive of an America that includes us," she said. "You rely on a frightened America for your plunder."

In the House, there are at least 52 voting members who are immigrants or children of immigrants and 16 in the Senate, a Pew Research Centre analysis shows.

Aside from Ms Omar, four other congresswomen were born outside the US, but they are not thought to be the targets of Mr Trump's remarks.

DPA, NYTIMES, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.

A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on July 16, 2019, with the headline 'Squad' members blast Trump over disparaging comments. Subscribe