The Squad: who are the four women targeted in Trump’s ‘racist’ tweets?
The US president said the congresswomen should return to ‘crime infested places from which they came’
The four US congresswomen told to “go back” where they came from by Donald Trump have hit back, as critics accuse the president of wanting to “make America white again”.
Trump’s tweets on Sunday have been widely interpreted as an attack on four first-term Democratic congresswomen – Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, Ayanna Pressley and Ilhan Omar – who have referred to themselves as the Squad.
All four come from ethnic minority backgrounds and they were all born in the US with the exception of Omar, who arrived as a refugee from Somalia at the age of 12 and became a US citizen.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Responding to Trump’s tweets, Ocasio-Cortez, the youngest woman ever elected to Congress, said “the country I ‘come from’, and the country we all swear to, is the United States”. Ocasio-Cortez was born in New York City, as was Trump, and her family come from Puerto Rico, a US territory.
Pressley, the first African American woman to represent Massachusetts in the House of Representatives, has also spoken out, tweeting: “THIS is what racism looks like. WE are what democracy looks like.”
Tlaib, the daughter of Palestinian immigrants, called Trump “lawless” and “a complete failure”, and called for him to be impeached.
Striking a similar note, Omar slated Trump as “the worst, most corrupt and inept president we have ever seen”, and stressed the importance of setting a “bold progressive agenda” ahead of the next presidential election in 2020.
Despite occasionally clashing with the more radical wing of her party, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has come out swinging for the four congresswomen, accusing the president of wanting to “make America white again”.
Trump’s Twitter tirade saw him asking: “Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came. Then come back and show us how it is done.”
He added: “These places need your help badly, you can’t leave fast enough.”
There was an instant backlash to what The Washington Post called the “unmistakable ugliness of Trump urging brown-skinned congresswomen to ‘go back’ to their countries”, with #RacistPresident trending on Twitter in the hours after the rant.
The reaction to the racially-charged remarks has spread beyond the US. Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt joined Theresa May in denouncing Trump’s tweets, although all “held back from branding him a racist”, as the The Guardian reports.
But who are the quartet, and why has the president attacked them?
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Ocasio-Cortez last year became the youngest woman ever elected to Congress, at the age of 29, after beating Joe Crowley, a ten-term New York Democrat incumbent. In her campaign video, which went viral, she said that “women like me aren’t supposed to run for office”, noting her age and Puerto Rican descent. Ocasio-Cortez ran on a progressive platform, which included the abolition of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), reforms to the criminal justice system, tuition-free college and universal healthcare. Since taking office in January, Ocasio-Cortez has introduced a “Green New Deal”, a comprehensive plan to address climate change in the US, and spoken out about abortion and border control issues.
Rashida Tlaib
As a lawyer, Tlaib fought against racism and state abuses, before becoming, in the 2018 midterm elections, one of the first two Muslim American women ever elected to Congress. Born in Detroit to working-class Palestinian immigrants, Tlaib has been vocal about the treatment of children apprehended at the US-Mexico border, and one of the loudest advocates for impeachment proceedings against the president.
Ilhan Omar
Omar was sworn into office alongside Tlaib. Born in Somalia, Omar and her family fled the country’s civil war when she was eight years old and spent four years in a refugee camp in Kenya before moving to the US. Citing her own experience as an asylum seeker, Omar made immigration reform a key part of her election campaign.
Ayanna Pressley
Elected to represent Massachusetts’ 7th Congressional District in the House of Representatives, Pressley is the first African American woman to be elected to Congress from that state. During her eight-year tenure on Boston City Council, she worked to improve provision for pregnant students and teen parents in Boston public schools and created the first “listening-only hearing” for 300 families impacted by gun violence to share their stories with officials. During her congressional campaign, Pressley pledged to be bold and speak truth to power - and in this instance, she appears to have struck a nerve at the very top.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
The week's best photos
In Pictures A spooky donation, a shirt-shredding rally, and more
By Anahi Valenzuela, The Week US Published
-
Vanessa Bell: A World of Form and Colour – an 'expansive' exhibition
The Week Recommends The 'sweeping' show features over 140 works from paintings to ceramics
By The Week UK Published
-
Kate Summerscale picks her favourite true crime books
The Week Recommends The writer shares works by Janet Malcolm, Helen Garner and Mark O'Connell
By The Week UK Published
-
How GOP election denial thrives in 2024
In the Spotlight Cleta Mitchell aided Donald Trump's efforts in 2020. She's back.
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
Life in the post-truth era
Opinion The mainstream media can't hold back a tsunami of misinformation
By Theunis Bates Published
-
'Shale is crucial to the US economy'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
What is the next Tory leader up against?
Today's Big Question Kemi Badenoch or Robert Jenrick will have to unify warring factions and win back disillusioned voters – without alienating the centre ground
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Donald Trump sees himself as 'protector' of Israel
The Explainer What does that mean for the war in Gaza?
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
'Empowered' Steve Bannon released from prison
Speed Read Bannon was set free a week before Election Day and quickly returned to his right-wing podcast to promote Trump
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Trump promises a rollback of the green energy revolution
The Explainer A pro-fossil fuel agenda dominates the GOP nominee's climate change policies
By David Faris Published
-
'We might need to fiddle with our technology more than we think'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published