Were you told to "go back" to your country while you are American? Tell us about this.



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On Sunday, President Trump served out a well-worn racist trope to attack Progressive Democrats, frequent objects of his anger. "Why do not they come back and help repair the totally devastated and infested places with the crimes that inspired them," Trump said in one of the posts posted on Twitter.

The attack targeted four first-time members of the Democratic House party who were also arguing with their party president, President Nancy Pelosi: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez representatives from New York, Ilhan Omar from Minnesota , Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ayanna S. Pressley of Massachusetts. But only one of them, Mrs. Omar, was born outside the United States (in Somalia); Ms. Tlaib is the daughter of Palestinian immigrants.

This insult immediately provoked the denunciation on the part of politicians, as well as a flood of memories for many people. I am a Latina born in California and have been told to "go back" – I do not know where – more times than I can remember. My former colleague, Michael Luo, today an editor at the New Yorker, wrote about a landmark experience in 2016 when a woman shouted "Return to China" after her visit to the church in Manhattan. (He is also born in the United States.)

On Sunday, Victor W. Hwang was one of many people on Twitter telling similar experiences. "I am the son of immigrants, a woman who fled communism, a father who came out of nothing," wrote Hwang. "I see this country as many people will never do. I love America and all that means for the world. And I belong here.

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