President Donald Trump said Wednesday that two Muslim Democratic US Representatives, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, should be "institutionalized" and sent back to "where they came from," a day after they had a heated exchange with him during his State of the Union address.
During Trump's speech on Tuesday, Tlaib, a Palestinian American, and Omar, a Somali American, criticized Trump as he touted his administration's hard-line immigration crackdown and its immigration enforcement actions.
Both Omar and Tlaib shouted "you're killing Americans" at Trump during his speech, with Omar also calling him a "liar."
In a Truth Social post on Wednesday, Trump said the two lawmakers "had the bulging, bloodshot eyes of crazy people, LUNATICS, mentally deranged and sick who, frankly, look like they should be institutionalized."
"We should send them back from where they came — as fast as possible," Trump added. Both Omar and Tlaib are US citizens.
House of Representatives Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries cast Trump's rhetoric against Tlaib and Omar as "xenophobic" and "disgraceful." According to Reuters, Tlaib said on X that Trump's comments showed "he is crashing out."
Muslim advocacy group Council on American-Islamic Relations also said Trump's comments were racist.
"It's racist and bigoted to say two Muslim US lawmakers should be sent to the country they were born in or where their ancestors came from based on their criticism of the gunning down of Americans by ICE," CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell said.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said last week that members of the media have "smeared" the president as a racist.
