The main newspaper in the US city of Baltimore has hit back at inflammatory tweets from President Donald Trump, which were criticised by prominent Democrats as "racist".

Key points: Congressman Elijah Cummings criticised the Government's "empathy deficit" in treatment of migrants

Congressman Elijah Cummings criticised the Government's "empathy deficit" in treatment of migrants Donald Trump declared Baltimore a "disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess" on Twitter

Donald Trump declared Baltimore a "disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess" on Twitter Critics of Mr Trump have come to the defence of the city, declaring #WeAreBaltimore

An editorial entitled "Better to have a few rats than to be one" published on Friday by the Baltimore Sun criticised Mr Trump's Twitter rant aimed at Democrat African American congressman Elijah Cummings and Baltimore as a "rat and rodent infested mess".

Mr Trump was responding to Mr Cummings' recent criticism of his administration's hardline border policy, a key component of the President's re-election campaign for 2020.

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"His district is considered the Worst in the USA," the President tweeted.

"The Border is clean, efficient and well run, just very crowded. Cumming District is a disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess," he added, suggesting that if Mr Cummings spent more time in his district he could clean it up.

"Mr President, I go home to my district daily," Mr Cummings retorted on Twitter.

"Each morning, I wake up, and I go and fight for my neighbours."

'They are human beings': Cummings targeted for border criticism

The Baltimore Sun's editorial board wrote that: "If there are problems here, rodents included, they are as much [Mr Trump's] responsibility as anyone's, perhaps more because he holds the most powerful office in the land."

It noted that in Mr Trump's criticism of Baltimore, "the President wasn't hoping his supporters would recognise landmarks like Johns Hopkins Hospital, perhaps the nation's leading medical centre."

"They are human beings," declared Congressman Cummings in his criticism of Donald Trump's border policy. ( AP: J. Scott Applewhite )

Mr Cummings — Representative for Maryland's 7th Congressional District — has been a regular critic of the Trump Administration and last week censured an "empathy deficit" in the Government's hardline approach to policing of the southern border with Mexico, where migrants have been kept in squalid and cramped conditions.

"You feel like you're doing a great job right?" Mr Cummings sardonically asked acting head of Homeland Security, Kevin McAleenan.

"What does that mean when a child is sitting in their own faeces, can't take a shower?"

"None of us would have our children in that position. They are human beings."

The 68-year-old has served in US Congress on behalf of his district since 1996 and is the Chair of the House Oversight Committee.

Baltimore has one of the highest percentages of African American residents of any city in the United States. It is around 65 per cent black.

The city's economy was historically driven by steel processing, shipping and automotive manufacturing; the decline of these sectors has seen poverty and crime rates hover above the national average since the 1990s.

"We are the United States of America. We are the greatest country in the world," Mr Cummings added during his rebuke of Homeland Security last week.

Mr Trump's latest comments have reignited debate over race relations in the US, after the President recently targeted four congresswomen of colour known as "the squad", telling them to go back to the "broken and crime infested places from which they came".

Trump supporters later chanted "send her back" about Muslim congresswoman Ilhan Omar, who is a naturalised US citizen having come as a refugee from Somalia, at a rally in North Carolina.

Ilhan Omar is the first Somali-American elected to Congress and has become a frequent target of Donald Trump. ( AP: J. Scott Applewhite )

#WeAreBaltimore declare Donald Trump's critics

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The Sun's TV and media critic David Zurawik went even further than the editorial board, in a column deeming the tweets "undiluted racism and hate".

"You cannot remain silent in the face of such hatred and racism coming from the White House, even as you know you are letting the President force you to focus on him, him, him," Mr Zurawik wrote.

"Most of us want to believe that we are better than the ugly and unmitigated racism the President has shown through tweets like those of today. We fought a Civil War to prove it."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi deemed the tweets about her "deeply valued colleague" Mr Cummings and Baltimore as "racist".

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Baltimore Mayor Bernard C Jack Young said in a statement that Mr Trump's comments were "completely unacceptable" and that the President was "a disappointment to the people of Baltimore, our country, and to the world".

Mr Cummings was "a patriot and a hero," Mr Young added.

The hashtag #WeAreBaltimore has trended on Twitter, with Baltimore residents expressing their pride and love for the city.

Baltimore is the setting for the HBO drama series The Wire, considered by many American critics to be the best show ever made.

The show's creator David Simon tweeted that Mr Trump was a "race-hating fraud", "racist moron" and "permanent stain on our land".

Prominent CNN anchor Victor Blackwell, who grew up in Baltimore, grew teary as he defended his hometown on the news network on Friday.

"When he tweets about 'infestation', it's about black and brown people," Mr Blackwell said.

"The President says about Congressman Cummings' district that no human would want to live there. You know who did Mr President? I did."

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Mr Trump has denied that his comments about the squad were racist.

The ABC's Washington bureau chief Zoe Daniel recently argued that his "racist tweets" were in fact a "blatant campaign strategy".