President Trump reportedly complained during a Thursday meeting with lawmakers about immigrants from “shithole” countries coming to America.
The Washington Post quoted Trump, based on a source who was in the meeting, saying:
“Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?”
The president was specifically referring to immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador and African countries and a proposal to restore protections to them.
The lawmakers in the meeting were Lindsey Graham and Dick Durbin. The Post notes:
Graham and Durbin thought they would be meeting with Trump alone and were surprised to find immigration hard-liners such as Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), at the meeting. The meeting was impromptu and came after phone calls this morning, Capitol Hill aides said.
The administration is working on a bipartisan immigration deal which seeks to permanently implement DACA and establish robust border security. Protections for immigrants and the visa lottery will likely take a hit as part of the deal. The White House has indicated that a bipartisan deal has not been reached, but they are “hopeful” a deal will be brokered soon.
UPDATE: In a statement, the White House does not deny that the president said the above quote behind closed doors.
