Donald Trump's nasty slur against migrants lands him in mess

Hundreds of immigration activists, clergy members and others participate in a protest against Trump's immigration policies in front of the Federal Building in New York City, on Friday. Pic/AFP

President Donald Trump has expressed frustration over efforts of some US lawmakers to protect immigrants from Haiti and African countries, asking why America should accept citizens from "s'''hole" countries, triggering protests. Trump met senators and Congressmen and pushed for immigrants from certain Asian countries, which help America economically.

"Why are we having all these people from s'''hole countries come here?" Trump was quoted by multiple media reports. The president was referring to African countries and Haiti, and then suggested the US should welcome immigrants from places like Norway, whose prime minister met with Trump on Wednesday.

His comments, which have been slammed by Democratic lawmakers, were first reported by The Washington Post. Trump, according to a White House official, also suggested he would be open to more immigrants from Asian countries because he felt they help the US economically, the report said.

Notably, Trump has been calling for merit-based immigration, of which people from countries like India could be a major beneficiary. Trump said this during a bipartisan meeting of lawmakers in his Oval Office.

"Certain Washington politicians choose to fight for foreign countries, but President Trump will always fight for the American people," said Raj Shah, principal deputy White House press secretary without directly referring to Trump's comments. Trump has been seeking to end temporary protection status of people from certain countries.

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The UN human rights office says President Donald Trump's reported use of an expletive to describe Africa and other countries could "potentially damage and disrupt the lives of many people." Repeating the term attributed to Trump a day earlier, spokesman Rupert Colville said, "You cannot dismiss entire countries and continents as s'''holes."

Colville said that the comments, if confirmed, were "shocking and shameful" and "I'm sorry, but there's no other word one can use but racist." He said Trump's reported comment could endanger lives by potentially fanning xenophobia: "It legitimises the targeting of people based on who they are." "This isn't just a story about vulgar language, it's about opening the door to humanity's worst side," he said.

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