On Thursday, while discussing immigration with lawmakers in the Oval, President Trump asked why people from “s***hole countries come here.” This comment was made in reference to people from El Salvador, Haiti and African nations.
He then followed that statement with a suggestion that more people from countries like Norway should be brought over to the United States.
According to the Washington Post, Trump and lawmakers were discussing protection of immigrants from these countries as a part of a bipartisan immigration deal. This deal pertains to increased security at the nation’s borders and the status of the thousands of young immigrants under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA.
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The White House did not deny that Trump made these comments. In a statement White House spokesman Raj Shah said, “Certain Washington politicians choose to fight for foreign countries, but President Trump will always fight for the American people. The president will only accept an immigration deal that adequately addresses the visa lottery system and chain migration — two programs that hurt our economy and allow terrorists into our country.
“Like other nations that have merit-based immigration, President Trump is fighting for permanent solutions that make our country stronger by welcoming those who can contribute to our society, grow our economy and assimilate into our great nation. He will always reject temporary, weak and dangerous stopgap measures that threaten the lives of hardworking Americans, and undercut immigrants who seek a better life in the United States through a legal pathway.”
His statements sparked much criticism, even from people within his party. Rep. Mia Love (R-Utah), whose family is from Haiti, said in a statement that Trump’s remarks were “unkind, divisive, elitist, and fly in the face of our nation’s values. This behavior is unacceptable from the leader of our nation.”
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She then asked that he “apologize to both the American people and the nations he so wantonly maligned.”
Republican Carlos Curbelo of Florida said that “under no circumstances is it acceptable to degrade, denigrate or dehumanize” immigrants with temporary protection status.
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The president has since gone on to deny making these comments but admitted to using ‘tough’ language during the Oval Office meeting.
“The language used by me at the DACA meeting was tough, but this was not the language used. What was really tough was the proposal made — a big setback for DACA!”
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At the FIU Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Breakfast, President Mark Rosenberg made the following remarks regarding the comments made by Trump: “We regret this. That is not how we think. This is not who we are. This is not who we aspire to be. I, personally, am disgusted by the senseless words coming from our senior-most leader. Our diverse international community is at the core of who we are, the core of our institutional and our community’s ethos.”
“At our FIU, we have a tradition of diversity. International is our middle name. We embrace people. We embrace ideas. We embrace traditions from all over the world. They make us stronger. They make us better.”
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