Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) fired back at President Trump during a press conference Monday regarding comments he made over the weekend.
“I am not surprised when the president says that four sitting members of Congress should quote ‘go back to their own country’ when he has authorized raids without warrants on thousands of families across this country,” she said.
The democratic socialist also used a childhood memory of when she visited the Reflecting Pool in Washington, DC, with her father to criticize the president.
“He rested me on the side of the reflecting pool and had my toes dip in the water, and had me look at the Washington Monument, had me look at the Capitol, had me look at the entirety of the capital of our great country,” she said. “He looked at everything, and he pointed to all of it and he said, ‘This belongs to all of us. This belongs to you, and it belongs to me.’”
She continued, “And so the first note that I want to tell children across this country is that no matter what the president says, this country belongs to you. And it belongs to everyone. And today that notion, that very notion, was challenged,” she said.
“I am not surprised that he uses the rhetoric that he does, when he violates international human rights and takes thousands of children away from their families,” she continued.
Ocasio-Cortez said she and her fellow congresswomen would not be deterred from making the United States “better.”
“Because we don’t leave the things that we love, and when we love this country, what that means is that we propose the solutions to fix it. We love all people in this country, and that’s why we believe health care is a human right,” she commented.
“And so we’ll stay focused on our agenda, and we won’t get caught slipping. Because all of this is a distraction. It’s a distraction from what’s most important and from our core values as American citizens,” she said.
However, Trump continued his comments on Twitter Monday ahead of the initial press conference, Breitbart News reported.
“We will never be a Socialist or Communist Country. IF YOU ARE NOT HAPPY HERE, YOU CAN LEAVE! It is your choice, and your choice alone. This is about love for America,” he wrote.
Ocasio-Cortez tweeted about the president’s remarks on Monday morning, saying that Americans should be concerned.
“It’s important to note that the President’s words yday, telling four American Congresswomen of color ‘go back to your own country,’ is hallmark language of white supremacists,” she wrote.
“Trump feels comfortable leading the GOP into outright racism, and that should concern all Americans,” she concluded.