UPDATE - Top Senate Republicans Slam Trump Over Comments About Race, Migrants

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th July, 2019) US Senator and former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and Senate Republican Conference Vice Chairwoman Joni Ernst said President Donald Trump's recent comments on immigrants have been destructive and racist.

On Sunday, Trump during a twitter rant said people who complain about the United States should go back to the "broken and crime infested" countries from which they came.

"The president's comments were destructive, demeaning, and disunifying. The President of the United States has a unique and noble calling to unite the American people - of all different races, colors, and national origins.

In that respect, the president failed badly," Romney, a member of Trump's Republican Party, said in a tweet on Monday. "People can disagree over politics and policy, but telling American citizens to go back to where they came from is over the line."

When Ernst was asked by reporters if she thought Trump's comments were specifically racist, she said, "Yeah, I do," according to the Hill newspaper.

Trump's clashes with four minority freshman Democratic congresswomen blew up on Monday via briefings and tweet storms with both sides accusing each other of being racist.