By Ronald J. Hansen | Arizona Republic
Arizona’s congressional delegation largely ignored President Donald Trump’s controversial tweets Sunday urging a group of unspecified Democratic congresswomen to “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.”
Two of Arizona’s polar opposites in the House of Representatives weighed in on social media, while most other members appeared to have no public reaction by mid-day Sunday.
Liberal U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., quickly dashed off tweets of his own, calling Trump a racist and citing his personal history battling racists throughout his life.
“Growing up I used to hear ‘go back to Mexico’ from many kids, though I was born in the USA. I thought then that it was just kids,” Gallego wrote. “I got to high school and thought that would change. I was a good student, Student Council President etc… was still told by other students to go back to Mexico. I joined the Marine Corps. Fought in some of the hardest battles and still carry the mental scars.
“I return to Arizona and I am told again to return to Mexico. To people like Trump I will never be American enough. So if you wonder why I give no inch to these racists, now you know. Nothing will ever satisfy them, all we can do is stop them.”
To people like Trump I will never be American enough. So if you wonder why I give no inch to these racists, now you know. Nothing will ever satisfy them, all we can do is stop them.
Hours after Trump’s tweets, conservative U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., posted a tweet blaming Democrats for ignoring the violence committed by immigrants in in the country illegally.
“Democrats almost never want to talk about the permanent family separation of America’s angel families – families like the Ronnebecks or Mendozas in my district,” he wrote.
