President Donald Trump launched a scathing attack on two Democratic congresswomen, suggesting they should be deported following their vocal protest during his recent address to Congress. In a social media post, the president targeted Representatives Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, who interrupted his speech with shouts of condemnation.
The confrontation occurred during Tuesday night's State of the Union address when the president discussed immigration enforcement and a fraud investigation involving Minnesota's Somali community. As Trump delivered his remarks, the two Muslim American lawmakers voiced their opposition from the House floor. Representative Omar responded to Trump's assertion that Democrats should feel ashamed by shouting, "You should be ashamed!" Meanwhile, Representative Tlaib interjected with a direct accusation: "Liar!" Their protests continued with both women shouting, "You have killed Americans!"—a reference to the recent deaths of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti at the hands of federal immigration authorities.
The following day, Trump took to his Truth Social platform to denounce the congresswomen in stark terms. He described them as "Low IQ" individuals who "should be institutionalized," characterizing their appearance as having "the bulging, bloodshot eyes of crazy people, LUNATICS, mentally deranged and sick." The president's post escalated beyond personal insults to suggest concrete action against the elected officials.
"When people can behave like that, and knowing that they are Crooked and Corrupt Politicians, so bad for our Country, we should send them back from where they came — as fast as possible," Trump wrote. "They can only damage the United States of America, they can do nothing to help it."
The president's recommendation that the lawmakers be "send them back" carries particular weight given their backgrounds. Representative Omar was born in Somalia and sought refuge in the United States as a child in the 1990s, eventually becoming a naturalized citizen. Representative Tlaib, however, was born in Detroit, Michigan, making her a native-born American citizen. The suggestion that an American-born elected official should be sent "back" to another country struck many observers as legally and logically incoherent.
Trump broadened his criticism to include actor Robert De Niro, who had participated in a Democratic counter-event titled "State of the Swamp" in Washington on Tuesday evening. The president proposed a bizarre scenario: "They should actually get on a boat with Trump Deranged Robert De Niro, another sick and demented person with, I believe, an extremely Low IQ, who has absolutely no idea what he is doing or saying — some of which is seriously CRIMINAL!"
Representative Tlaib responded to the president's tirade through a post on X, writing, "Can't take two Muslimas talking back and correcting him so now he is crashing out." Her spokesperson directed inquiries to this message, which framed the president's reaction as an inability to handle criticism from Muslim women.
Representative Omar provided more specific context for her outburst, explaining that she felt compelled to confront the president directly. In her own post on X, she stated: "I said what I said. I had to remind Trump that his administration was responsible for killing two of my constituents." The congresswoman was referring to the deaths of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti, who died while in custody of federal immigration agents in Minnesota last month. These fatalities have become a focal point of local and national controversy over the administration's immigration enforcement tactics.
Democratic leadership swiftly condemned the president's statements as beyond the pale of acceptable political discourse. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries characterized Trump's language as "disgraceful, unpresidential, unpatriotic and un-American" during a press availability at the House Democrats' retreat in Virginia. While acknowledging that such xenophobic rhetoric from Trump was "sadly, not surprising," Jeffries emphasized that it remained deeply damaging to the nation's political culture.
"The xenophobic rhetoric of Donald Trump, you know, directed at two members of the House, Democratic caucus, of course, is, sadly, not surprising, but it's disgraceful, unpresidential, unpatriotic and un-American, but that's Donald Trump, and that was on full display for the American people yesterday," Jeffries told reporters.
Representative Pete Aguilar of California, who chairs the House Democratic Caucus, defended his colleagues' actions and character. He described Omar and Tlaib as being "in touch with" their communities and representing the concerns of their constituents authentically. Aguilar's defense highlighted a fundamental divide in how the two parties view appropriate conduct for elected officials and the boundaries of political protest.
The incident reflects a broader pattern in Trump's approach to critics, particularly women of color and immigrants. His use of the phrase "send them back" echoes similar comments he made in 2019 when he suggested four congresswomen of color—Omar, Tlaib, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Ayanna Pressley—should "go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came." Three of the four lawmakers were born in the United States, making the comment factually baseless as well as widely condemned as racist.
The confrontation at the State of the Union and its aftermath illustrate the increasingly volatile nature of political dialogue in Washington. Where traditional protocol has long dictated respectful silence during the president's address to Congress, these lawmakers chose direct confrontation. Where previous presidents might have responded through official channels or ignored the protest, Trump opted for personal attacks and deportation threats.
The episode also raises questions about the boundaries of protected speech for elected officials, the president's responsibility to represent all Americans regardless of political disagreement, and the normalization of extreme rhetoric in mainstream political discourse. As the nation moves further into this political era, the tension between institutional norms and confrontational politics appears likely to intensify.
Legal experts note that suggesting deportation of a naturalized citizen or native-born American based on political speech would violate fundamental constitutional protections. The First Amendment protects even disruptive speech by elected officials, and citizenship cannot be revoked for political dissent. Trump's post, while lacking legal grounding, serves as a powerful rhetorical tool that resonates with his base while further alienating those who view such language as authoritarian.
The deaths of Good and Pretti in Minnesota custody remain under investigation, but they have already become symbolic of the human cost of aggressive immigration enforcement. For Representative Omar, whose district includes many immigrant families, these were not abstract policy failures but personal losses within her community. Her decision to speak out during the State of the Union, while breaking with tradition, reflects this direct connection to the consequences of presidential policy.
As both parties retreat to their corners, the fundamental disagreement over immigration policy, appropriate protest, and the limits of presidential rhetoric continues to deepen. The president's call to deport his critics and Democratic leaders' characterization of that call as xenophobic and un-American reveal a chasm that extends far beyond a single speech or social media post. This latest conflict serves as another marker in the ongoing transformation of American political norms, where confrontation replaces compromise and personal attacks substitute for policy debate.