Last week President Trump told four of my colleagues to “go back” to where they came from — even though all are American citizens, and only one is an immigrant. But Mr. Trump has somewhere to “go back” to as well: He is a second-generation American. For Native Americans like myself, his comments are perplexing, and wrongheaded.

If anyone can say “go back,” it’s Native Americans. My Pueblo ancestors, despite being targeted at every juncture — despite facing famine and drought — still inhabit this country today. But indigenous people aren’t asking anyone to go back to where they came from.

When I heard the chilling, hate-filled chants coming from the president’s rally the other night, I thought about my fight in a committee hearing, earlier that day, to protect my ancestral homeland of Chaco Canyon in New Mexico. The Bureau of Land Management plans to sell leases in the area for fossil fuel extraction.

In the late 1200s, my Pueblo ancestors migrated to the Rio Grande Valley from the areas of Chaco Canyon, Bears Ears, Mesa Verde, Grand Staircase Escalante and other places. I want to protect these sacred sites for future generations and against this administration’s policies that put profits over people. This administration has put a premium on leasing federal land to oil companies and neglects to consider the impacts that drilling has on sacred cultural sites.

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For thousands of years, the Pueblo people have inhabited this continent. We developed food sources and a strong agricultural tradition, and we perfected rock and adobe architecture. Without Native American knowledge, experience and intelligence across this country, many Europeans would not have survived their first winter.

This is the first time in history that someone like me has a platform in Congress to give this perspective. This year, I joined Sharice Davids of Kansas as the first two Native American women elected to Congress. The resilience of our communities and our drive to protect our culture is the reason we believe that everyone has a right to be here.

The fact that the president claims this country as his own and wants to keep everyone in their place proves that he doesn’t understand his place. I question the standing of anyone who would call to send my sisters and colleagues — Congresswomen Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley, Rashida Tlaib — or any other American “back.” As a 35th-generation New Mexican and a descendant of the original inhabitants of this continent, I say that the promise of our country is for everyone to find success, pursue happiness and live lives of equality. This is the Pueblo way. It’s the American way.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4307913&forum_id=2#38570795)