Adds late night tweet from Trump; paragraphs 11-13)
WASHINGTON, Jan 11 (Reuters) - President Donald 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.
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 shithole 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.
Republican 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 PROGRAM
The 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.
Poster Comment:
America needs more illiterate, unsanitary immigrants.
Apparently the fake news sources fail to realize that they're helping our President whose phony remarks hit the target with those who are anti-immigrant.
#1: Tooconservative To: IbJensen (#0)
Tooconservative posted on 2018-01-12 09:13:53 Reply Private Reply
#2: rlk To: IbJensen (#0)
I was in the army with a Norway immigrant. He was one of the finest all around men I have known in my life. 100,000 more like him would be a blessing upon this country.
rlk posted on 2018-01-12 11:58:54 Reply Private Reply
#3: rlk To: IbJensen (#0)
Say it again
Louder
rlk posted on 2018-01-12 12:11:27 Reply Private Reply
#4: BorisY To: IbJensen (#0)
We're a shiT hole counTry
For The mosT parT
Love
boris
BorisY posted on 2018-01-12 12:11:44 Reply Private Reply
#5: Fred Mertz To: BorisY (#4)
Fred Mertz posted on 2018-01-12 15:25:08 Reply Private Reply
#6: Deckard To: Fred Mertz (#5)
Tomorrow he’ll be apologizing to those shithole countries, and then proceed to sell them more arms.
Deckard posted on 2018-01-12 15:30:38 Reply Private Reply
#7: Hondo68 To: Fred Mertz (#5)
Hondo68 posted on 2018-01-12 15:58:12 Reply Private Reply
#8: Fred Mertz To: hondo68 (#7)
Fred Mertz posted on 2018-01-12 16:04:39 Reply Private Reply
#9: Hondo68 To: Fred Mertz, Banjo, BorisY (#8)
He's all growed up now, and is a big fat LOP, Banjo BorisY!
Hondo68 posted on 2018-01-12 16:12:47 Reply Private Reply
#10: paraclete To: IbJensen (#0)
Why do people immigrate, particularly the unskilled? It is because there is nothing for them in their country. Trump forgets Haitian immigrants exist because of a massive earthquake, if he wants to say it is time to go home, then surely he could have just said that without denigrating the nations. trump obviously has great difficulty dealing with poverty
paraclete posted on 2018-01-12 16:24:00 Reply Private Reply
#11: IbJensen To: paraclete (#10)
These 'immigrants' should stay where they are! Dig in for a change and help the nations that spawned them! Where in the hell can we go if a catastrophe hits? Go to Haiti? Or go to some other nation that we had nothing to do with its impoverishment.
As far as the unskilled is concerned, America has far enough of them sucking the tits of the bankrupt treasury. Too bad Lincoln's secretary of the interior, Seward, didn't get the freed slaves returned to Africa.
IbJensen posted on 2018-01-12 16:40:42 Reply Private Reply
#12: paraclete To: IbJensen (#11)
I think that solution was tried, it is called Liberia, one of those nations Trump was referring to. Do you think Africa wanted them back, it sold them in the first place. Look if the US wanted to help Haiti it could have done so long ago, instead of pouring industry into China it could have poured it into Haiti. What about its own Porto Rica, that should not be a poverty stricken shit hole part of the US, but it is.
Trump and america is only interested in enriching themselves at the expense of everyone else. We don't mind america being rich as long as some of their largesse flows outward, but the US has been conducting a beggar my neighbour policy for a long time under the guise of competition
paraclete posted on 2018-01-12 18:11:08 Reply Private Reply
#13: Stoner To: paraclete (#12)
If that were true, which it is not, the US would not be spending billions, and billions of dollars on foreign aid in all of those shit hole countries, nor shipping all of our industry to other nations, and we would not be allowing the people of all those shit hole countries into our nation, and then spending billions & billions on all the food, clothing, housing, and medical care on them. Wise up !!!
Stoner posted on 2018-01-13 11:36:32 Reply Private Reply
#14: GrandIsland To: paraclete (#10)
That's not our problem (as Americans)... and since you aren't American, I take offense at your very liberal tendency to suggest other people make YOU feel better at their expense.
Let U.K. feed the shitholeians.
GrandIsland posted on 2018-01-13 11:43:31 Reply Private Reply
#15: BorisY To: Fred Mertz (#5)
Foff
boris
BorisY posted on 2018-01-13 11:57:22 Reply Private Reply
#16: buckeroo To: BorisY (#15)
You are showing your true colours, boris. Where has the love gone?
buckeroo posted on 2018-01-13 12:02:18 Reply Private Reply
#17: BorisY To: buckeroo (#16)
No more love
Boris
BorisY posted on 2018-01-13 12:07:56 Reply Private Reply
#18: buckeroo To: BorisY (#17)
boris, boris, boris .... do we have to tie you down on a stainless steel gurney to get the truth out of you by injecting 200 ML of traumatizing Thorazine?
We need to know what made you change your behaviour. Certainly, even in your own dumb-downed mental state of being you can reflect that you owe the LF channel the truth.
Just so you know, we are here to help you overcome your otherwise insanity manifestations.
buckeroo posted on 2018-01-13 12:17:30 Reply Private Reply
#19: Fred Mertz To: buckeroo (#18)
Pass boris the bong and then he'll mellow out. At least it worked in the past.
Fred Mertz posted on 2018-01-13 12:24:33 Reply Private Reply
#20: buckeroo To: Fred Mertz (#19)
He is on a rampage, in other words, and is no longer stable or can be contained or quarantined even for the good of his own self.
buckeroo posted on 2018-01-13 12:31:29 Reply Private Reply
#21: Hondo68 To: Fred Mertz, buckeroo, dozin n droolin, Thorazine (#19)
Boris' nuthouse adventure.
Hondo68 posted on 2018-01-13 12:36:25 Reply Private Reply
#22: paraclete To: Stoner (#13)
I did long ago. I became wise to the ploys of the americans who use foreign aid to hook other nations into their sphere of influence, and who benefits from aid that can only be spent in the donor country or comes with america advisors
paraclete posted on 2018-01-13 17:25:41 Reply Private Reply
#23: Stoner To: paraclete (#22)
LOL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Stoner posted on 2018-01-13 18:35:52 Reply Private Reply
#24: buckeroo To: Stoner, paraclete (#23)
buckeroo posted on 2018-01-13 18:43:02 Reply Private Reply
#25: GrandIsland To: buckeroo (#24)
Is a non American shitbird like you. 3rd world citizens don't have any "good points" when discussing American issues.
GrandIsland posted on 2018-01-13 18:51:21 Reply Private Reply
#26: buckeroo To: GrandIsland (#25)
buckeroo posted on 2018-01-13 18:57:41 Reply Private Reply
#27: BorisY To: buckeroo (#18)
No more 2nd chances
Tough shiT
Foff
boris
BorisY posted on 2018-01-13 18:58:12 Reply Private Reply
#28: GrandIsland To: buckeroo (#26)
GrandIsland posted on 2018-01-13 19:06:50 Reply Private Reply
#29: buckeroo To: GrandIsland (#28)
buckeroo posted on 2018-01-13 19:12:21 Reply Private Reply
#30: GrandIsland To: buckeroo (#29)
I'll tell you "what makes me think so".
Because I'm AMERICAN. I have a right to voice my opinion. You and that English fag AREN'T Americans... so STFU.
GrandIsland posted on 2018-01-13 19:18:55 Reply Private Reply
#31: buckeroo To: GrandIsland (#30)
So phuckin' Big Deal. Who cares?
buckeroo posted on 2018-01-13 19:21:58 Reply Private Reply
#32: Hondo68 To: GrandIsland, buckeroo, paraclete, *Border Invasion* (#25)
Amnesty for Trump's DACA Shithole Dreamers will Make America Great Again!
/s
Hondo68 posted on 2018-01-13 19:26:06 Reply Private Reply
#33: GrandIsland To: buckeroo (#31)
That's the message I'm trying to convey to your dumb ass... non American opinions regarding American issues, are not cared about.
GrandIsland posted on 2018-01-13 20:13:43 Reply Private Reply
#34: GrandIsland To: hondo68 (#32)
Haaaaaa
GrandIsland posted on 2018-01-13 20:17:09 Reply Private Reply
#35: buckeroo To: GrandIsland (#33)
Where's the beef? BFD, so far, with your continuous cockamamie BS.
buckeroo posted on 2018-01-13 20:18:46 Reply Private Reply
#36: GrandIsland To: buckeroo (#35)
When you leave this great republic, and piss on that republic, like you did, we can all understand WHY being American and Trumps presidential theme of AMERICA FIRST, would be silly to you.
You are a worthless shitbag... fitting you live in a jungle with the beaners.
GrandIsland posted on 2018-01-13 20:22:55 Reply Private Reply
#37: buckeroo To: GrandIsland (#36)
What's so GREAT about this "great republic," other than your government pension and the fact that you did nothing throughout life to defend it?
buckeroo posted on 2018-01-13 20:31:50 Reply Private Reply
#38: GrandIsland To: buckeroo (#37)
What have you done, besides abandon my republic?
GrandIsland posted on 2018-01-13 20:44:34 Reply Private Reply
#39: buckeroo To: GrandIsland (#38)
buckeroo posted on 2018-01-13 21:28:30 Reply Private Reply
#40: paraclete To: GrandIsland (#25)
Just for the record, I am not from the third world, or the second world, I am from the first world and from a pre-eminent country. Look at our achievements and you will see our democracy actually works, our medical and heath care are first class, our economy thrives, we have no global warming, no immigration problem and an idiot like Trump could not become the leader here
paraclete posted on 2018-01-14 01:36:18 Reply Private Reply
#41: sneakypete To: paraclete (#40)
Fantasy Island is a tv show,not a first world country.
sneakypete posted on 2018-01-14 10:06:57 Reply Private Reply
#42: paraclete To: sneakypete (#41)
Yes but like the Apprentice it ceased to just be TV, you are living in episodes of the Apprentice and I am watching it on TV. You may think I live in a Fantasy but at least it is not a nightmare
paraclete posted on 2018-01-14 16:12:14 Reply Private Reply
#43: rlk To: paraclete (#40)
Just for the record, you have an islamic jihadist as mayor of your capitol city ans have won yourselves leadership in the contest for highest number of acid attacks on women who do not conform to shiria law. Your idea of pre-eminence is mostly verbal salesmanship having little to do with fact.
rlk posted on 2018-01-14 18:49:44 Reply Private Reply
#44: paraclete To: rlk (#43)
You are confused as to who I am, but then that is not surprising when you have to listen to the bullshit Trump puts out, he would confuse anyone
paraclete posted on 2018-01-15 01:59:39 Reply Private Reply
#45: rlk To: paraclete (#44)
That's a weak argument.
rlk posted on 2018-01-15 11:09:42 Reply Private Reply
#46: paraclete To: rlk (#45)
I'll help you out the mayor of my capitol is probably a dyke
paraclete posted on 2018-01-15 16:19:12 Reply Private Reply
#47: rlk To: paraclete (#46)
What's the capitol of your country?
rlk posted on 2018-01-15 19:51:25 Reply Private Reply
#48: paraclete To: rlk (#47)
paraclete posted on 2018-01-16 07:48:25 Reply Private Reply
#49: A K A Stone To: rlk (#47)
A K A Stone posted on 2018-01-16 08:10:45 Reply Private Reply
#50: rlk To: A K A Stone (#49)
We live and learn. I thought he was from the British Islands and spoke for London. Australia has its own problems with immigration of islamic jihadists.
rlk posted on 2018-01-16 14:14:00 Reply Private Reply