U.S. President Donald Trump
The United Nations human rights office on Friday rejected as "racist" and inciting xenophobia the reported remarks by U.S. President Donald Trump describing immigrants from Africa and Haiti as coming from "s***hole" countries.
Trump on Thursday questioned why the United States would want to have immigrants from Haiti and African nations, referring to some as "shithole countries," according to two sources familiar with the comments made in the White House.
"These are shocking and shameful comments from the President of the United States. There is no other word one can use but 'racist'," U.N. human rights spokesman Rupert Colville told a Geneva news briefing when asked about the comments.
"You cannot dismiss entire countries and continents as 'shitholes', whose entire populations, who are not white, are therefore not welcome," he added.
The issue was more than "vulgar language", Colville said.
"It's about opening the door to humanity's worst side, about validating and encouraging racism and xenophobia that will potentially disrupt and destroy lives of many people."
President Donald Trump on Thursday questioned why the United States would want to have immigrants from Haiti and African nations, referring to some as "s***hole countries," according to two sources familiar with the comments.Trump's remarks, made in the White House, came as Democratic Senator Dick Durbin and Republican Senator Lindsey Graham briefed the president on a newly drafted immigration bill being touted by a bipartisan group of senators, according to the sources, who asked not to be identified.Other government officials were present during the conversation, the sources said.The lawmakers were describing how certain immigration programs operate, including one to give safe haven in the United States to people from countries suffering from natural disasters or civil strife.One of the sources who was briefed on the conversation said that Trump said, "Why do we want all these people from Africa here? They're s***hole countries ... We should have more people from Norway."The second source familiar with the conversation, said Trump, who has vowed to clamp down on illegal immigration, also questioned the need for Haitians in the United States.Many Democrats and some Republican lawmakers slammed the president for his remarks.US judge blocks effort to end immigrant protectionsRepublican U.S. Representative Mia Love, a daughter of Haitian immigrants, said the comments were "unkind, divisive, elitist, and fly in the face of our nation's values" and called on Trump to apologize to the American people and to the countries he denigrated.Another Republican Representative, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who was born in Cuba and whose south Florida district includes many Haitian immigrants, said: "Language like that shouldn't be heard in locker rooms and it shouldn't be heard in the White House."Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal, a frequent Trump critic, said the president's comment "smacks of blatant racism, the most odious and insidious racism masquerading poorly as immigration policy."In an apparent response to his critics, Trump took to Twitter late on Thursday night."The Democrats seem intent on having people and drugs pour into our country from the Southern Border, risking thousands of lives in the process," he tweeted."It is my duty to protect the lives and safety of all Americans. We must build a Great Wall, think Merit and end Lottery & Chain. USA!"TPS ProgramThe program that was being discussed at the White House is called Temporary Protected Status.In November, the Trump administration decided to end the status for immigrants from Haiti and Nicaragua. It gave the approximately 59,000 Haitian immigrants who had been granted the status until July 2019 to return home or legalize their presence in the United States. Nicaraguans were given until January 2019.This week, Trump moved to end the status for immigrants from El Salvador, which could result in 200,000 Salvadorans legally in the United States being deported, beginning in September of next year.The bipartisan Senate plan would attempt to maintain TPS in return for ending or changing a "diversity" lottery program that has been aimed at allowing up to 50,000 people a year from countries with few emigres to the United States.Asked about Trump's comments, 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.""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," Shah said.Another source familiar with the meeting said Trump was questioning why the United States should take in unskilled laborers from the countries under discussion and should instead welcome immigrants from nations that can offer skilled workers.Trump blasts court's ruling halting DACA's endTrump signals he could endorse immigration deal
Trump questions taking immigrants from 's***hole countries'
Trump had also failed to clearly condemn the "anti-Semitic and racist actions of white supremacists in Charlottesville" at a rally in Virginia last August, Colville said.
The programme that was being discussed at the White House is called Temporary Protected Status.
In November, the Trump administration decided to end the status for immigrants from Haiti and Nicaragua. It gave the approximately 59,000 Haitian immigrants who had been granted the status until July 2019 to return home or legalize their presence in the United States. Nicaraguans were given until January 2019.
"The future of the Dreamers should not be used as a bargaining chip to negotiate the most severe and restrictive immigration and security measures possible. These are human beings, not commodities," Colville said.
"Dreamers" is term used for undocumented immigrants who were brought into the United States as children.
William Spindler, a U.N. refugee agency spokesman, declined to comment directly on Trump's purported remarks:
"But what I can say is that UNHCR's position is always that people forced to flee war or persecution, and needing asylum, should be given protection by whichever country they are in, irrespective of race, religion, ethnicity or place or country of origin," Spindler said.