WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - President Donald Trump has evoked widespread criticism for calling some illegal immigrants 'animals.'
Trump made the controversial remarks during a California Sanctuary State Roundtable discussion on immigration at the White House.
'We have people coming into the country, or trying to come in - and we're stopping a lot of them - but we're taking people out of the country,' Trump said in response to a comment from law enforcement about trying to stop people at the border, including MS-13 gang members.
'You wouldn't believe how bad these people are. These aren't people. These are animals. And we're taking them out of the country at a level and at a rate that's never happened before. And because of the weak laws, they come in fast, we get them, we release them, we get them again, we bring them out. It's crazy,' he told the Round table, attended by mayors, sheriffs and other local leaders.
America has the dumbest laws on immigration in the world, according to Trump. He insisted that people based on merit should only enter America.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer gave a fitting reply to the President on Twitter, saying, 'When all of our great-great-grandparents came to America they weren't 'animals,' and these people aren't either.'
Indian-origin Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal, who herself is an immigrant, termed Trump's remarks as 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.'
American writer, poet and scholar Clint Smith came down on Trump heavily over his animal remarks.
'When the president uses dehumanizing language about entire groups of people it can't be understood only as offensive, but as the type of thing that's always preceded enslavement, genocide & mass expulsion. To see it only as offensive is to misunderstand its potential ramifications'.
Calling undocumented people 'animals' as the president just did is gravely serious, according to Smith.
Californian Governor Jerry Brown, who signed into law last year that bars police from asking people about their immigration status or helping federal agents with immigration enforcement, criticized Trump for his White House remarks.
He said Trump is lying on immigration, crime and the laws of California. '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 added.
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