House Democrats introduce resolution condemning Trump for ‘racist’ comments

by Cristina Marcos and Justin Wise - 07/15/19 8:27 PM ET

House Democrats plan to vote on a resolution that explicitly condemns President Trump’s tweets, in which he called for four progressive congresswomen to “go back” to other countries, as racist.

The vote on the resolution is expected on Tuesday, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) announced.

{mosads}The text of the resolution, which is sponsored by freshman Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.), obtained by The Hill “strongly condemns President Donald Trump’s racist comments that have legitimized and increased fear and hatred of new Americans and people of color by saying that our fellow Americans who are immigrants, and those who may look to the President like immigrants, should ‘go back’ to other countries.”

The resolution also states that the House “believes that immigrants and their descendants have made America stronger, and that those who take the oath of citizenship are every bit as American as those whose families have lived in the United States for many generations” and “is committed to keeping America open to those lawfully seeking refuge and asylum from violence and oppression, and those who are willing to work hard to live the American Dream, no matter their race, ethnicity, faith, or country of origin.”

Tomorrow the House will take up my resolution condemning the president’s racist remarks. It will ask all members to choose: do we embrace President Reagan’s vision of an America made stronger by immigrants and refugees, or President Trump’s message of fear? https://t.co/xvT3Vxhjpq

— Tom Malinowski (@Malinowski) July 16, 2019

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced the resolution from Malinowski, who is white but was born in Poland, earlier Monday in response to the tweets from Trump.

“This weekend, the president went beyond his own low standards using disgraceful language about Members of Congress,” Pelosi wrote in a letter to colleagues. “The House cannot allow the president’s characterization of immigrants to our country to stand.”

In a series of tweets on Sunday aimed at the four progressive freshman women — Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) — Trump wrote that they should “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.”

“So interesting to see ‘Progressive’ Democrat Congresswomen, who originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe, the worst, most corrupt and inept anywhere in the world (if they even have a functioning government at all), now loudly and viciously telling the people of the United States, the greatest and most powerful Nation on earth, how our government is to be run,” Trump tweeted.

Omar, who came to the U.S. as a refugee from Somalia, is the only one among the four who was born in a foreign country.

When asked Monday if he was concerned his tweets were considered racist and praised by white nationalists, Trump said, “Not at all.”

“If somebody has a problem with our country, if somebody doesn’t want to be in our country, they should leave,” Trump said.

Malinowski earlier Monday said he hoped the resolution would pass on a bipartisan basis.

“I think this is going to be an opportunity for, hopefully, all of us on a bipartisan basis to say that even if we may disagree on the details of immigration or border policy, racism is wrong, is un-American. It’s not who we are,” Malinowski told The Hill.

But it’s unclear how much bipartisan support the resolution will attract given that it explicitly calls Trump’s tweets racist.

Two House Republicans — Reps. Will Hurd (Texas) and Michael Turner (Ohio) — explicitly called Trump’s tweets racist in statements on Monday. But most GOP lawmakers have declined to go as far, even if they pushed back against the comments.

A number of Republicans in the House and Senate began speaking out against Trump’s tweets on Monday after largely staying silent on Sunday.

Some Democrats want to go further than the resolution endorsed by Democratic leaders. Later Monday, liberal Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) introduced a resolution that would formally censure Trump.

“People need to understand that the President has crossed a red line in his chaotic commentary. Congress must censure him for this un-American and un-Presidential language,” Cohen said in a statement.

Cohen’s resolution has nine cosponsors, including Ocasio-Cortez, Omar, Tlaib and Pressley, according to his office.

Juliegrace Brufke contributed to this report.