Gonzalez's father fled Fidel Castro's Cuban regime by moving to New York in 1968, according to a Univision profile. Gonzalez does not speak Spanish, according to the profile.

Criticism of King's post came quickly, with his social media managers relentlessly defending the post.

"Are you SERIOUSLY mocking a school shooting survivor for her ethnic identity?!" wrote Brandon Wolf, a survivor of Orlando's Pulse nightclub shooting in June 2016. "When it was my community, where were you? When it was Sandy Hook? Columbine?"

"Only a brainwashed Lefty could possibly look at this meme and deduce there's racial prejudice," said King in a post signed "Team King".

David Hogg, another Parkland survivor and activist, asked his senator, Republican Marco Rubio, to address King on Twitter. "Hey @marcorubio @Emma4Change s family fled Cuba to escape totalitarianism and live in freedom just like your family could you please respond to @SteveKingIA," he wrote.

King made a name for himself criticising immigrants. He's argued, "We can't restore our civilisation with somebody else's babies" and questioned whether non-whites added anything to civilisation. He's been praised by former KKK leader David Duke, toasted an immigrant's deportation and displayed a Confederate flag on his desk, despite being a native Iowan representing a state that remained in the Union during the Civil War.

Gonzalez became the face of the student-led movement against gun violence after an impassioned speech last month, and has since faced attempts to discredit her from both anonymous social media accounts and Republican politicians. One GOP candidate in Maine called her a "skinhead lesbian" (she identifies as bisexual), while a doctored image spread online showed Gonzalez apparently tearing the Constitution (she tore a gun target for a Teen Vogue shoot).

USA Today