The US House of Representatives on Tuesday voted to formally admonish President Donald Trump, approving a resolution condemning as “racist” his tweets targeting four minority congresswomen, The Hill reports.
The resolution was approved by a majority of 240-187, with four Republicans breaking with party ranks to join every voting Democrat.
Rep. Justin Amash (I-MI), who recently left the GOP over differences with Trump, also backed the resolution.
The measure "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," and vows for the United States to remain 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."
It also states 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."
The president has faced criticism for a series of tweets directed at four congresswomen on Sunday in which he called for them to "go back" to the countries that they came from and criticizing the Democratic party for condoning their “disgraceful behavior”.
While Trump’s tweets did not mention the four by name, it is widely believed that he was targeting Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY), Ilhan Omar (MN), Rashida Tlaib (MI) and Ayanna Pressley (MA).
Three of the four congresswomen were born in the United States. Omar was born in Somalia.
On Monday, Trump reiterated his criticism, calling on the congresswomen to apologize to the US, to Israel, and to the “office of the presidency.”
He once again criticized the four on Tuesday, writing, "The Democrat Congresswomen have been spewing some of the most vile, hateful, and disgusting things ever said by a politician in the House or Senate, & yet they get a free pass and a big embrace from the Democrat Party. Horrible anti-Israel, anti-USA, pro-terrorist & public shouting of the F...word, among many other terrible things, and the petrified Dems run for the hills. Why isn’t the House voting to rebuke the filthy and hate laced things they have said? Because they are the Radical Left, and the Democrats are afraid to take them on. Sad!"
Tuesday’s resolution was led by freshman Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-NJ), who is white but was born in Poland. He argued it was a necessary step to push back against racist rhetoric from the White House.
“Even if we may disagree on the details of immigration or border policy, racism is wrong, it is un-American,” Malinowski told The Hill.
“It's not who we are. It is playing with fire because the words that the president used are heard by people with disturbed minds who do terrible things, violent things, and a line needs to be drawn. So that's what we hope to do.”
On Monday, the four congresswomen held a press conference in which they blasted Trump for his rhetoric. Omar went so far as to call for the impeachment of the President.
"I have not made impeachment central to my election or my tenure. But since the day that I've gotten elected, I've said to people, it is not — if he will be impeached, but when. So it is time for us to stop allowing this President to make a mockery out of our Constitution. It is time for us to impeach this President," she said.
Of the four congresswomen in question, three have a history of making anti-Israel statements.
Ocasio-Cortez has come under fire after saying the United States operated "concentration camps" on its southern border, she previously said that cutting military and economic aid to Israel as a way to signal opposition to Israeli policies should be “on the table.”
Omar was criticized after she suggested on Twitter that Republicans were attacking her at the behest of the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC. She subsequently issued a half-hearted apology before ultimately deleting the controversial tweets.
Tlaib claimed in an interview in May that Palestinian Arabs living in the British Mandate prior to the establishment of the State of Israel “provided” a safe haven to Jews after the Holocaust.
She has also backed BDS and, when asked in a past television interview whether she would vote against military aid to Israel when she goes to Congress, replied “absolutely.”