As Donald Trump held a North Carolina rally marked by controversial calls of "send her back" , a nearby restaurant decided to take its own political stand.
On Wednesday, the Scullery restaurant in Greenville protested Mr Trump's visit to the city by donating all of its proceeds that day to an immigration NGO.
"100 per cent of today's sales will be donated to [the] American Immigration Council in order to help with the immigration crisis at our southern border and to celebrate our diverse community," a sign on the restaurant announced.
Restaurant owner Matthew Scully told Newsweek he served as many as 500 customers and made more than US$5,800 in sales, all of which will go to the NGO.
"I had already been thinking about the president and especially about his comments over the past couple of days and it's just sort of difficult to wrap your head around it," he said.
President Donald Trump works the crowd during a campaign rally in North Carolina. Source: AAP
"It brought up negativity and division in our community ... and that's just kind of hard to sit and watch. So, we just thought this would be an opportunity to spread a positive message.
"I have little kids and thinking about the kids [on the US-Mexico border] and the trauma they're going through ... I just hate that for them."
Trump distances himself
Facing a backlash, Mr Trump on Thursday distanced himself from supporters' chants of "send her back" after he criticised Somali-born Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar at the North Carolina rally.
"I felt a little bit badly about it," Mr Trump told reporters at the White House when asked about the chants, which drew an outpouring of criticism from Democrats and some of Mr Trump’s fellow Republicans.
Ms Omar hit back on Thursday, branding Mr Trump a "fascist".
Democratic congresswoman Ilhan Omar. Source: AAP
"We have said this president is racist, we have condemned his racist remarks," said Ms Omar, one of two Muslim women in Congress. "I believe he is fascist."
Ms Omar was one of four liberal lawmakers - all women of colour - that Mr Trump criticised as un-American, saying they were welcome to leave the country if they did not like his policies on issues such as immigration.
Mr Trump tweeted over the weekend that the four progressive representatives, known as "the squad" - Ms Omar of Minnesota, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts - should "go back" where they came from, even though all are US citizens and three are US-born.
Additional reporting: Reuters
