Go back to where you came from

"Go back to where you came from" is a racial or xenophobic epithet 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, it is directed often 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 aren't 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, Malaysia, New Zealand, and South Africa.