Rep. Ruben Gallego Ruben GallegoHispanic caucus report takes stock of accomplishments with eye toward 2021 Senators call on Pentagon to reinstate funding for Stars and Stripes newspaper Hispanic Caucus campaign chief to mount leadership bid MORE (D-Ariz.) said President Trump's Sunday morning tweet telling a group of Democratic congresswomen, most of whom were born in the U.S., to "go back" to their home countries sounds similar to attacks he heard growing up.

Gallego said kids would tell him to "go back to Mexico," even though he was born in the U.S.

"I thought then that it was just kids," the Iraq War veteran tweeted.

ADVERTISEMENT

"I got to high school and thought that would change. I was a good student, Student Council President etc... was still told by other students to go back to Mexico," Gallego said.

Even after joining the Marine Corps, fighting "in some of the hardest battles" and returning to "carry the mental scars," Gallego said he came home and was still told to "to return to Mexico."

"To people like Trump I will never be American enough," he said. "So if you wonder why I give no inch to these racists, now you know. Nothing will ever satisfy them, all we can do is stop them."

I got to high school and thought that would change. I was a good student, Student Council President etc... was still told by other students to go back to Mexico. — Ruben Gallego (@RubenGallego) July 14, 2019

To people like Trump I will never be American enough. So if you wonder why I give no inch to these racists, now you know. Nothing will ever satisfy them, all we can do is stop them. — Ruben Gallego (@RubenGallego) July 14, 2019

Last week Gallego joined a growing number of House Democrats calling to begin impeachment inquiries into Trump.

Trump's tweet targets unnamed "progressive" Democrat congresswomen, who he said came from "countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe."

"Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came. Then come back and show us how it is done," he said.

His tweet follows a week of heightened tensions between Speaker Nancy Pelosi Nancy PelosiPelosi slams Trump executive order on pre-existing conditions: It 'isn't worth the paper it's signed on' On The Money: Anxious Democrats push for vote on COVID-19 aid | Pelosi, Mnuchin ready to restart talks | Weekly jobless claims increase | Senate treads close to shutdown deadline Trump signs largely symbolic pre-existing conditions order amid lawsuit MORE (D-Calif.) and a group of freshman House Democrats including including Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.) and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.).

Omar came to the U.S. as a Somali refugee, as a child, with her family. Pressley was born in Cincinnati, while Tlaib was born in Detroit. Ocasio-Cortez was born in New York.