(CNN) After the President of the United States spent the day openly encouraging a group of critical congresswomen of color to leave the country, the four Democratic lawmakers made clear Monday they're here to stay.

"I want to tell children across this country is that no matter what the President says, this country belongs to you," said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York at a news conference on Capitol Hill on Monday. "And it belongs to everyone and today that notion, that very notion was challenged."

Ocasio-Cortez was joined by Reps. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, a group shorthandedly referred to on Capitol Hill as the "squad," a quartet of lawmakers who throughout their first months in Congress have found themselves at odds with leaders in their own party as well as sharply criticizing the President.

Most recently the four lawmakers have sharply rebuked the administration for the conditions at migrant detention facilities as part of the overall humanitarian crisis at the US southern border, part of a point Pressley made clear that should not be lost in the coverage of Trump's tweets.

"I encourage the American people and all of us in this room and beyond, to not take the bait," Pressley said at the opening of the news conference. "This is a disruptive distraction from the issues of care, concern and consequence to the American people."

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