Democratic U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin on Friday ripped President Donald Trump for using “hate-filled, vile and racist” language when talking about immigrants from Haiti and Africa, even as Trump took to Twitter to deny he made the comments.
Durbin was in Chicago for an annual breakfast to honor Martin Luther King Jr. after taking part in an Oval Office meeting Thursday on immigration reform, during which he said Trump referred to African nations as “shitholes” and asked why America would want to accept more immigrants from Haiti. Durbin said he’s not optimistic in the aftermath of the meeting that congressional Democrats and Republicans will be able to agree on another immigration deal.
Durbin said he was the lone Democrat among about a dozen lawmakers in the meeting with Trump to pitch a tentative compromise on immigration, including the fate of so-called Dreamers who came to the U.S. illegally as young children. He said media accounts of what transpired have been accurate.
“In the course of his comments, (Trump) said things which were hate-filled, vile and racist,” Durbin said. “I use those words advisedly. I understand how powerful they are.
“I cannot believe that in the history of the White House and of that Oval Office, any president has ever spoken the words that I personally heard our president speak yesterday. You’ve seen the comments in the press. I have not read one of them that’s inaccurate.”
The Washington Post first reported the comments Thursday. Illinois’ senior senator joined many Democrats on Friday in condemning Trump’s remarks, and some local Republicans weren’t happy about the comments either.
The White House initially did not directly deny that Trump used the language, instead pivoting in a statement Thursday to say he would “always fight for the American people.”
On Friday, though, Trump took to Twitter to say he didn’t use the incendiary words.
“The language used by me at the DACA meeting was tough, but this was not the language used,” the president tweeted. “What was really tough was the outlandish proposal made — a big setback for DACA!”
“Never said anything derogatory about Haitians other than Haiti is, obviously, a very poor and troubled country,” Trump also tweeted. “Never said ‘take them out.’ Made up by Dems. I have a wonderful relationship with Haitians. Probably should record future meetings — unfortunately, no trust!”
In addition, Republican Sens. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and David Perdue of Georgia, who attended the Oval Office meeting, released a statement Friday saying they didn’t remember Trump disparaging Haiti and African nations in the way Durbin says.
“In regards to Senator Durbin’s accusation, we do not recall the President saying these comments specifically but what he did call out was the imbalance in our current immigration system, which does not protect American workers and our national interest,” their statement reads in part.
According to Durbin on Friday, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina was outlining a tentative bipartisan agreement on immigration they hoped Trump would support. That’s when Trump began interjecting, Durbin said.
“As Sen. Graham started to read the plan, the president started making comments and asking questions, and that’s when things deteriorated rapidly,” he said.
“When we talked about those in the United States on temporary protected status, there was a comment they were from El Salvador, Honduras and Haiti,” Durbin said. “ ‘Haitians?’ (Trump) said. ‘We don’t need more Haitians.’ ”
“Then we went on and the president started commenting on immigration from Africa,” Durbin said. “And that’s when he used those sickening, heartbreaking remarks, saying ‘Those shitholes send us the people they don’t want.’ He repeated that. He didn’t just say it one time.”
And Durbin said Trump in the meeting called for more Europeans to be admitted to the U.S. “He said, ‘Put me down for one of the more Europeans to come to this country. Why don’t we get more people from Norway?’ “
Durbin characterized the meeting with Trump as “combative,” and said he thought about leaving the room but felt it was best to stay and speak up on the issues.
For his part, Graham in a statement neither directly confirmed nor disputed Trump’s words as reported, but said “following comments by the President, I said my piece directly to him yesterday.”
“I appreciate Senator Durbin’s statements and have enjoyed working with him and many others on this important issue,” Graham said.
Locally, Democrats were swift to rebuke Trump.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel took a swipe at Trump at the Interfaith Breakfast, drawing applause from the crowd packing a hotel ballroom when he noted Chicago was founded by Haitian Jean Baptiste Point du Sable.
And the mayor also invoked the story he often tells about Jews on a boat called the St. Louis in 1939 to point to past instances of immigrants being rejected because of where they came from.
“Those were the words that were spoken and the values that were spoken when Hitler put Jews on a boat in 1939, the St. Louis, the name of that boat, to show the world nobody wanted Jews,” Emanuel said. “And as it came to the shore, it was rejected because they didn’t want those people in this country.”
Some Democrats in Congress pounced the night before, including Rep. Luis Gutierrez of Chicago, a leading advocate for immigrants; Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi of Schaumburg, who was born in New Delhi and came to the U.S. as an infant; and Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Evanston. She called Trump’s vulgarity “vile” and “unbecoming of the presidency,” and challenged GOP colleagues to speak out. “Enough is enough. Silence is complicity,” she said.
Democratic Rep. Danny Davis of Chicago said Trump has a “long history of provocative, racially tinged rhetoric,” and that his actions on immigration and other areas “continue to erode our standing in the international community.” And Rep. Bill Foster, a Democrat from Naperville, on Friday called Trump’s reference “disgusting, divisive (and) racist.”
Republicans were less quick in responding to Trump, but those who did condemned his remarks as reported.
“I’ll say this, that language has no place in our political conversation,” Gov. Bruce Rauner said during a stop near Rockford on Friday.
U.S. Rep. Randy Hultgren of Plano on Friday said: “I strongly disagree with President Trump’s reported choice of words. Words like these diminish and undermine our standing in the world as a trusted partner and beacon of hope.” U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Channahon said in a statement that the “reported language” is “unbecoming of the president, the leader of the free world.”
And Republican Rep. Peter Roskam of Wheaton said Friday: “If true, the reported comments made by the president are disappointing and I urge him to reiterate his commitment to continuing America’s legacy as a welcoming country for those seeking a better life and those willing to play by the rules.”
Durbin has been working toward an immigration agreement with Republican and Democratic senators. Hours before news of Trump’s comments broke Thursday afternoon, the state’s senior senator released a joint statement from the group that said a “bipartisan agreement” was at hand.
“President Trump called on Congress to solve the DACA challenge,” the statement read. “We have been working for four months and have reached an agreement in principle that addresses border security, the diversity visa lottery, chain migration/family reunification, and the Dream Act — the areas outlined by the President. We are now working to build support for that deal in Congress.”
But on Friday morning, Durbin took a dimmer view.
“At the end of this conversation, it was clear the president had rejected our bipartisan plan and told us to go back to work and find something else,” he said. “I don’t think that it’s likely there will be another bipartisan plan coming forward. I want to tell you I left that meeting in the Oval Office at the White House sickened. Sickened and heartbroken.”
Chicago Tribune’s Patrick M. O’Connell and Kim Geiger contributed. Katherine Skiba reported from Washington.
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