(WASHINGTON, D.C.) –Congressman Jamie Raskin (MD-08) issued the following statement after the House passed H.Res. 489, condemning President Trump’s racist comments directed at Members of Congress, by a vote of 240 – 187:

“The President of the United States of America told four U.S. Members of Congress to ‘go back’ to the countries from which they came. Three of them, Representatives Ayanna Pressley, Rashida Tlaib and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, are native-born Americans, and one of them, Representative Ilhan Omar, was born abroad.

“This is not just an affront to four U.S. citizens who are Members of Congress. It is an affront to 22 million naturalized American citizens who were born in another country and made the journey to America and to becoming an American. It is also an affront to the hundreds of millions of Americans who understand how American democracy and citizenship work.  We are not a nation defined by race and blood, as the sickening neo-Nazis and Klansmen chanted in Charlottesville.  We are defined by our Constitution and the patriotism of all the people.  

“There is nothing wrong with being a naturalized citizen under our Constitution. On the contrary, the Founders of our country specifically said that you can run for the House of Representatives if you have been a naturalized citizen for seven years and for the Senate if you have been a naturalized citizen for nine years. All Americans are equal in the eyes of the law. This is something to be honored and celebrated.

“All of us are equal, whether you are a naturalized citizen who was born in Ireland, as Congressman Sean Casten was, or Ecuador as Congresswoman Debbie Mucarsel-Powell was or Mexico, as Congressman Chuy Garcia was, or France, as Congressman Mark Meadows was, or Thailand, as Senator Tammy Duckworth was, or Guatemala, as Congresswoman Norma Torres was, or Taiwan as Congressman Ted Lieu was, or Canada, as Senator Ted Cruz was, or Poland, as Congressman Tom Malinowski was.

“I was proud to testify before the Rules Committee in support of this Resolution and to manage the Rule for the Resolution on the House Floor and I was even prouder to vote in favor of the Resolution’s passage. President Trump’s racist comments have legitimized fear and hatred of new Americans and people of color and today the House of Representatives resolutely declared that, contrary to the President’s comments, we believe immigrants have made America stronger and that those who take the oath of citizenship are every bit as American as those whose families have lives in the United States for many generations.”

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