Foreign
PRESIDENT Donald Trump of the United States has denied that he is racist, after a row broke out over his alleged use of the word “shithole” to describe African nations.
Trump reportedly used the term last week during a bipartisan meeting on immigration reform at White House.
But in his interaction with the press, the president said: “I am not a racist. I’m the least racist person you have ever interviewed.”
Analysts said it was the first time the president would respond directly to the racism accusations.
He made the denial to White House press pool reporters at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach in Florida on Sunday night.
The controversy had broken out after lawmakers from both parties visited the president on Thursday, January 11, to work on a proposal for a bipartisan immigration deal.
The meeting was prompted by the withdrawal of Temporary Protected Status, TPS, from a number of nationalities currently living in the country by the Trump administration.
The media in the US later alleged that Trump had asked during the meeting: “Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?”
The president was said to have told them that instead of granting temporary residency to citizens of countries hit by natural disasters, war or epidemics, the US should be taking in migrants from countries like Norway.
It was further alleged that when Trump was told that the largest groups of immigrants with the status were from El Salvador, Honduras and Haiti, the president responded: “Haitians? Do we need more Haitians?”
Denying the media report, Trump tweeted on Friday, January 12, morning that the language he used in the meeting was “tough” but disputed the wording of the reports.
He also posted another tweet denying he had insulted Haitians, accusing Democrats of making it up.
But Dick Durbin, a Democrat senator, stood by claims, and said that Trump had used “hate-filled, vile and racist” language during the meeting.
Lindsey Graham, a Republican senator, who was there, did not deny the comments were made.
“Following comments by the president, I said my piece directly to him yesterday. The president and all those attending the meeting know what I said and how I feel,” he said.
Paul Ryan, House speaker and a senior Republican, said that Trump’s immigration comments were “very unfortunate” and “unhelpful”.
But several senior Republican lawmakers at the meeting, including Kirstjen Nielsen, Homeland Security Secretary, have said they do not recall Mr Trump making the remark.
Asked on Sunday, January 14, on whether he thought the comments had made it harder to achieve any immigration deal, Trump responded: “Have you seen what various senators said about my comments? They weren’t made.”
The African Union on Friday, January 12, demanded Trump’s apologies and expressed “shock, dismay and outrage” at the “clearly racist” remarks.
tIn the same breath, Rupert Colville, he UN human rights spokesman, told a Geneva news briefing: “There is no other word one can use but racist. You cannot dismiss entire countries and continents as ‘shitholes’.”
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, NAACP, accused the president of falling “deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole of racism and xenophobia”.
Several Democratic representatives have said they intend to skip the president’s State of the Union address later this month over the comments, accusing the president of racism.
– Jan. 15, 2018 @ 10:17 GMT
Tags: El Salvador Honduras President Donald Trump Rupert Colville Trump denies being a racist after reported crude remark United States
