“These are animals.”
“Animals.”
This is what the President of the United States called illegal immigrants this week at a roundtable discussion in California, where Trump was conferring with law enforcement and officials opposing sanctuary city laws.
Trump was responding to Fresno County Sheriff, Margaret Mims’, complaint:
“It’s [sancuary city laws] really put us in a very bad situation— it’s a disgrace. There can be an MS-13 gang member, if they don’t reach a certain threshold, I can’t tell [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] about them.”
Trump replied:
“We have people coming into the country, or trying to come in, we’re stopping a lot of them, but we’re taking people out of the country, you wouldn’t believe how bad these people are. These aren’t people. These are animals, and we’re taking them out of the country at a rate that’s never happened before.”
After outcry, Trump resorted to his usual assault on the “fake news media,” claiming his comment was referring to MS-13 gang members, not all illegal immigrants, tweeting on Friday:
“Fake News Media had me calling Immigrants, or Illegal Immigrants, ‘Animals.’ Wrong! They were begrudgingly forced to withdraw their stories. I referred to MS 13 Gang Members as ‘Animals,’ a big difference — and so true. Fake News got it purposely wrong, as usual!”
Whether this is true or not, Trump’s anti-immigrant comments speak for themselves.
In 2016, just before the presidential election, Trump said in a speech about immigration, “We’re dealing with animals.”
In April, he said sanctuary cities are “breeding” immigrants.
And, of course, who can forget the very first comments Trump made when announcing his candidacy three years ago:
“When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”
Either via tweets or in person, Trump has repeatedly attacked Latinos, Muslims, African Americans, Native Americans, and Asians.
The only demographic he hasn’t attacked–whites.
Image credit: Firstpost
