Nigeria and other countries as he described them as people coming from
“shithole”.
It is the latest profanity to be mouthed by the American leader about foreigners.
The last one reported, which his spin doctors
denied, was that he described Haitians as people infected with AIDS and
Nigerians as people living in huts.
The latest comments, first
reported by The Washington Post, sparked anger among Democrats and
Republicans and revived questions about Trump’s tendency to make
racially charged remarks.
Trump sat down with senators and
congressmen at the White House to discuss a proposed bipartisan deal
that would limit immigrants from bringing family members into the
country, and restrict the green card visa lottery in exchange for
shielding hundreds of thousands of young immigrants from deportation.
“Why
are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?”
Trump said, according to people briefed on the meeting who spoke with
The Washington Post.
The New York Times later reported the same comment, citing unidentified people with direct knowledge of the meeting.
The
president was referring to African countries and Haiti, both newspapers
said, with the Post including El Salvador on its list.
Trump
then suggested the United States should welcome immigrants from places
like Norway, whose prime minister met with Trump on Wednesday.
“Why do we need more Haitians?” he added, according to the Post account. “Take them out.”
Republican
Senator Lindsey Graham and Democratic Senator Dick Durbin came to the
White House to outline their bipartisan compromise, but found themselves
in the room with several Republican immigration hardliners.
Graham
and Durbin are leading efforts to codify protections for so-called
“dreamers”, immigrants who came to the United States illegally as
children.
In exchange, the deal would end extended family “chain migration”.
It
also reportedly would cut the visa lottery programme by half and
prioritise certain countries in the system, instead of scrapping it
altogether as several Republicans have suggested as part of an
agreement.
The president and lawmakers are in the midst of
intense negotiations about how to shield nearly 800,000 “dreamers” from
deportation.
