Texas Rep. Filemon Vela wrote an open letter to Donald Trump condemning his proposed border wall. | AP Photo Democratic congressman tells Trump: 'Shove it up your a--'

Donald Trump is a racist who can take his proposed border wall and “shove it up [his] ass,” Rep. Filemon Vela wrote in an open letter to the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

In the letter, dated Monday, the Texas Democrat agreed with the real estate mogul on a series of issues: that the federal government has failed veterans, the Department of Veterans Affairs needs to be improved, the State Department and Mexican government should be more aggressive in addressing cartel violence and corruption in Mexico, and felons who are in the U.S. illegally should be hastily deported.


“There might even be a few other things on which we can agree,” Vela wrote. “However, your ignorant anti-immigrant opinions, your border wall rhetoric, and your recent bigoted attack on an American jurist are just plain despicable.”

Trump has called for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the U.S., a wall on the southern border that Mexico will pay for and the deportation of some 11 million undocumented immigrants.

“Your position with respect to the millions of undocumented Mexican workers who now live in this country is hateful, dehumanizing, and frankly shameful,” Vela wrote, arguing that most of those individuals work in hotels, restaurants, construction and agricultural fields.

“If I had to guess, your own business enterprises either directly or indirectly employ more of these workers than most other businesses in our country,” he continued. “Thousands of our businesses would come to a grinding halt if we invoked a policy that would require ‘mass deportation’ as you and many of your supporters would suggest. That is precisely why the Republican-leaning U.S. Chamber of Commerce agrees that these workers deserve a national immigration policy that would give them a pathway to citizenship.”

Noting that Mexico “no doubt” has its problems, Vela also hailed it as one of America’s largest trading partners. Citing the Chamber of Commerce, he said the trade relationship is responsible for 6 million jobs and hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue from importing goods from and exporting goods to Mexico.

“Why any modern-thinking person would ever believe that building a wall along the border of a neighboring country, which is both our ally and one of our largest trading partners, is frankly astounding and asinine,” wrote Vela, who added that he would tear to pieces any walls on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Vela accused Trump of descending to “a new low” in his latest attack against Indiana-born federal Judge Gonzalo Curiel. Trump ramped up his rhetoric on the judge last week when he suggested Curiel, whose parents were born in Mexico, couldn’t preside fairly over Trump University fraud cases because of his heritage, coupled with the fact that the tycoon has proposed a border wall that Mexico will pay for.

Vela also highlighted that Americans of Mexican descent — “that you mistakenly refer to as ‘Mexicans,’” he wrote — have served this country in every conflict since the Civil War. His own family helped defend this country after his great-great-grandfather came to the U.S. in 1857, he said, noting that his grandfather and his brothers served in both world wars.

“His great-grandson, my father, served in the U.S. Army and, coincidentally, was one of the first ‘Mexican’ federal judges ever appointed to the federal bench,” Vela wrote.

“I would like to end this letter in a more diplomatic fashion, but I think that you, of all people, understand why I cannot. I will not presume to speak on behalf of every American of Mexican descent, for every undocumented worker born in Mexico who is contributing to our country every day or, for that matter, every decent citizen in Mexico,” Vela concluded. “But, I am sure that many of these individuals would agree with me when I say: ‘Mr. Trump, you’re a racist and you can take your border wall and shove it up your ass.’”