Go back to where you came from

"Go back to where you came from" is a racist or xenophobic command which is used in many countries against immigrants and ethnic minorities. Another common iteration of the phrase is "Go back to your country." According to American University scholar Alan Kraut, it was originally used in the United States against European immigrants. The phrase was popularized during World War I and World War II in relation to German Americans, who were subject to suspicion, discrimination, and violence. The message conveys a sense that the person is "not supposed to be there, or that it isn't their place." The speaker is presumed to be a "real" American, but the target of the remark is not.

In the contemporary United States, the epithet is often directed at Asian and Hispanic Americans, and sometimes sub-Saharan African, Arab, Jewish, and Slavic Americans. It has even been ignorantly directed towards Indigenous Americans in the US. Its use is often based on an erroneous assumption of the target's origin; for example, Hispanic and Latino Americans may be told to "Go back to Mexico," even if they are not Mexican. Under federal employment law in the United States, it has been accepted as evidence of workplace discrimination.

The phrase has also been used in other countries and languages, including Australia, Greenland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, and South Africa.

Background

Such phrases are deemed by the United States federal government and the court system to be discriminatory in the workplace. Their use has been accepted as evidence of workplace discrimination in cases brought before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), a federal government agency that "enforces federal law to make sure employees are not discriminated against for their gender, sex, national origin or age." EEOC documents specifically cite the use of the comment "Go back to where you came from," as the example of unlawful workplace conduct by co-workers and supervisors, along with the use of "insults, taunting, or ethnic epithets, such as making fun of a person's accent," deemed to be "harassment based on national origin."

EEOC documents defining "harassment based on national origin" specifically cite the use of the comment "Go back to where you came from", as the example of "unlawful" workplace conduct by co-workers and supervisors if its use is creates an "intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment, interfere[s] with work performance, or negatively affect[s] job opportunities".