Donald Trump, Republican candidate for the White House, called Paulina Vega, current Miss Universe, a "hypocrite" for criticizing his comments on illegal immigration but not giving up her title.
"Miss Universe, Paulina Vega, criticized me for telling the truth about illegal immigration, but then said she would keep the crown-Hypocrite," Trump wrote on Twitter.
This week Vega said that Trump's comments about Mexican immigrants were "unfair and hurtful".
"As a Colombian and Miss Universe I want to show my support and endorse the feelings of the Latino community," said Vega on a message posted on Facebook and Instagram.
Trump has also addressed other critics on Twitter.
On separate tweets, Trump wrote: "Rick Perry failed at the border. Now he is critical of me. He needs a new pair of glasses to see the crimes committed by illegal immigrants" and "Jeb Bush will never secure our border or negotiate great trade deals for American workers. Jeb doesn't see & can't solve the problems."
Yesterday Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush said that he was personally offended by Trump's recent remarks about Mexico and immigrants and called the remarks far outside the mainstream of Republican thought. Rick Perry, another Republican hopeful, also said he was offended by Trump's remarks.
In his speech on June 16 marking his entry into the Republican race, Trump said Mexican immigrants are "bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people."
The businessman has refused to back down, although he insists his remarks were misconstrued.
"My statements have been contorted to seem racist and discriminatory," he wrote in a message to supporters on Thursday. "What I want is for legal immigrants to not be unfairly punished because others are coming into America illegally, flooding the labor market and not paying taxes." His original comments, though, did not make a distinction between Mexicans who came to U.S. legally and those here illegally.
(With information from AP)
