Trump Lashes Out at Undocumented Immigrants, Calls Them ‘Animals’

United States President Donald Trump on May 16 hit out at undocumented immigrants, calling them “animals” and stating  that they are dangerous people who are trying to come to the country, the New York Times reported.

“We have people coming into the country, or trying to come in, we’re stopping a lot of them. And we’re taking people out of the country, you wouldn’t believe how bad these people are. These aren’t people, these are animals,” Trump told California officials during a meeting at the White House, the report said. “And we’re taking them out of the country at a level, at a rate, that’s never happened before,” he added.

Promising to amend the immigration system, which he called the “dumbest laws on immigration in the world,” Trump said, “We’re gonna take care of them, we’re gonna get it done,” according to Time.

The U.S. president made these comments during a round-table discussion with state and local leaders over the sanctuary laws in California that restrict communication between local law enforcement and federal immigration officers. The justice department sued California in March for allegedly violating immigration policy.

Trump is reported to have made the remarks when the local officials at the event praised his immigration policies while talking about California’s sanctuary law. The officials said that the law of California was making it even harder for their communities to seek and deport criminals. “It’s really put us in a very bad position,” Sheriff Margaret Mims of Fresno County said, as per NYT. To this Trump replied, “It’s a disgrace and we’re suing on that.”

Trump’s comments were condemned by many on the social media, with some even circulating the video where he calls undocumented immigrants “animals.”

Indian American politician Pramila Jayapal took to Twitter to criticize Trump’s rant, calling it disgusting.

There is no other word for this than disgusting. Is this really what we have come to? The president–of a country whose very character has been defined by immigrants–calling immigrants 'animals' is truly disgusting. https://t.co/OE74Hfi6VL

— Rep. Pramila Jayapal (@RepJayapal) May 17, 2018

California’s Governor Jerry Brown slammed Trump for the tone used by him regarding immigrants and his emphasis on the state.

“DonaldTrump is lying on immigration, lying about crime and lying about the laws of CA. Flying in a dozen Republican politicians to flatter him and praise his reckless policies changes nothing. We, the citizens of the fifth largest economy in the world, are not impressed,” he said on Twitter.

🤥 @realDonaldTrump is lying on immigration, lying about crime and lying about the laws of CA. Flying in a dozen Republican politicians to flatter him and praise his reckless policies changes nothing. We, the citizens of the fifth largest economy in the world, are not impressed.

— Jerry Brown (@JerryBrownGov) May 16, 2018

Another Twitter user said that Trump’s comments are “incredibly disturbing.”

https://twitter.com/EliRubenstein/status/996905724683825152