Trump’s Alleged Comments on Immigrants Cause Outrage
Last week, during a meeting with a group of senators to discuss immigration, sources report that the president questioned, “Why are we having all these people from s***hole countries come here,” in reference to immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador, and African countries. In particular to Haiti, he said, “Why do we need more Haitians? Take them out.” He went on to say that we should allow immigrants from other countries, like Norway or some Asian countries, as they could improve the economy of the US.
Obviously, this statement stirred a lot of controversy.
UN human rights spokesman Rupert Colville said, “There is no other word one can use but racist. You cannot dismiss entire countries and continents as ‘s***holes’, whose entire populations, who are not white, are therefore not welcome.”
Haitian-American diplomats wrote an open letter in response to the comments, clearly displaying the hurt they feel from the president’s words.
“January 12th marked the 8th anniversary of the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that shook Haiti, taking more than 200,000 innocent lives. As American diplomats of Haitian heritage, we woke up to heartbreak and despair from reports of disparaging remarks emanating from the administration we serve, as we mourned family members lost on that fateful day,” the letter said.
Trump, on Twitter, denied that he said anything negative about Haiti, insisting that his relationship with Haiti is good.
“The language used by me at the DACA meeting was tough, but this was not the language used. What was really tough was the outlandish proposal made – a big setback for DACA!” said Trump, “Never said anything derogatory about Haitians other than Haiti is, obviously, a very poor and troubled country. Never said ‘take them out.’ Made up by Dems. I have a wonderful relationship with Haitians. Probably should record future meetings – unfortunately, no trust!”
In any case, whatever the language used, this controversy is not the first to be centered around our president, and it surely won’t be the last.
Sources
https://www.voanews.com/a/angry-reactions-continue-trump-vulgar-immigration-remark/4206629.html
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jan/12/unkind-divisive-elitist-international-outcry-over-trumps-s***hole-countries-remark
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-attacks-protections-for-immigrants-from-s***hole-countries-in-oval-office-meeting/2018/01/11/bfc0725c-f711-11e7-91af-31ac729add94_story.html?utm_term=.5d4f4c0eb30f
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/exclusive-in-open-letter-haitian-american-diplomats-say-trumps-comments-caused-heartbreak-and-despair
The language used by me at the DACA meeting was tough, but this was not the language used. What was really tough was the outlandish proposal made – a big setback for DACA!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2018
Never said anything derogatory about Haitians other than Haiti is, obviously, a very poor and troubled country. Never said “take them out.” Made up by Dems. I have a wonderful relationship with Haitians. Probably should record future meetings – unfortunately, no trust!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2018