{"id":164000,"date":"2018-05-17T11:20:36","date_gmt":"2018-05-17T15:20:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=164000"},"modified":"2018-05-17T11:20:36","modified_gmt":"2018-05-17T15:20:36","slug":"trump-draws-rebuke-for-animal-remark-at-immigration-talk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/05\/17\/trump-draws-rebuke-for-animal-remark-at-immigration-talk\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump draws rebuke for ‘animal’ remark at immigration talk"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Trump’s remark at a meeting with local leaders was in response to a complaint about gang members. (File photo: NASA\/Aubrey Gemignani via NASA HQ PHOTO\/Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 While railing against California for its so-called sanctuary immigration policies, President Donald Trump referred to some people who cross the border illegally as \u201canimals\u201d \u2014 drawing a sharp rebuke from Democratic leaders for the harsh rhetoric.<\/p>\n

Trump’s remark at a meeting with local leaders was in response to a complaint about gang members.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have people coming into the country, or trying to come in — and we’re stopping a lot of them,\u201d Trump said during the immigration roundtable after a sheriff commented about gangs. \u201cYou wouldn’t believe how bad these people are. These aren’t people. These are animals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., responded on Twitter to the president, saying, \u201cWhen all of our great-great-grandparents came to America they weren’t ‘animals,’ and these people aren’t either.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump was joined at the Wednesday White House meeting by mayors, sheriffs and other local leaders from California who oppose the state’s immigration policies and who applauded his administration’s hard-line efforts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is your Republican resistance right here against what they’re doing in California,\u201d said Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez, coopting a term used by Democrats opposed to Trump’s presidency. She, like others, said the president and his policies were far more popular in the state than people realize.<\/p>\n

They were criticizing legislation Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law last year that bars police from asking people about their immigration status or helping federal agents with immigration enforcement. Jail officials can transfer inmates to federal immigration authorities if they have been convicted of one of about 800 crimes, mostly felonies, but not for minor offences.<\/p>\n

Brown insists the legislation, which took effect Jan. 1, doesn’t prevent federal immigration officials from doing their jobs. But the Trump administration has sued to reverse it, calling the policies unconstitutional and dangerous. Some counties, including San Diego and Orange, have voted to support the lawsuit or have passed their own anti-sanctuary resolutions.<\/p>\n

Republicans see backlash to the law as a potentially galvanizing issue during the midterm elections, especially with Trump’s anti-immigrant base. And Trump has held numerous events in recent months during which he’s drawn attention to California’s policies.<\/p>\n

During the session, Trump thanked the officials, saying they had \u201cbravely resisted California’s deadly and unconstitutional sanctuary state laws.\u201d He claimed those laws are forcing \u201cthe release of illegal immigrant criminals, drug dealers, gang members and violent predators into your communities\u201d and providing \u201csafe harbour to some of the most vicious and violent offenders on earth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brown responded on Twitter, writing that Trump \u201cis lying on immigration, lying about crime and lying about the laws of CA.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Democratic governor added: \u201cFlying 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

The discussion comes as the Trump administration is under fire for a new policy that is expected to increase the number of children separated from their parents when families cross the border illegally.<\/p>\n

Trump, in his remarks, wrongly blamed Democrats for forcing his administration’s hand.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know what you’re going through right now with families is very tough,\u201d he told Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, \u201cbut those are the bad laws that the Democrats gave us. We have to break up families … because of the Democrats. It’s terrible.\u201d<\/p>\n

But no law \u201cthe Democrats gave us\u201d mandates the separation of children from their parents at the border. The administration is using protocols described in a 2008 law designed to combat child trafficking that gave special protections to Central American children at the border. While the bill was authored by Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, it unanimously passed both houses of Congress and was signed by Republican President George W. Bush as one of his last acts in office.<\/p>\n

Nielsen on Tuesday defended the practice, telling a Senate committee that removing children from parents facing criminal charges happens \u201cin the United States every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

The event also came as top House Republicans worked to head off an attempt by party moderates to force roll calls on four immigration bills. Republican leaders privately warned GOP lawmakers Wednesday that such a drive could damage the party’s prospects in the fall’s congressional elections by dispiriting conservative voters, according to people at the closed-door meeting.<\/p>\n

The House leaders fear the winning legislation would be a compromise bill backed solidly by Democrats but opposed by most Republicans, an outcome that could anger conservatives, according to Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Calif., a leader of the effort to force the immigration votes.<\/p>\n

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., issued the warning, said a second person who was in the room and spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the private conversation.<\/p>\n

Asked about his remarks, McCarthy said his objection to the procedure was that it would in effect \u201cturn the floor over\u201d to Democrats.<\/p>\n

House Speaker Paul Ryan said the petition would be \u201ca big mistake\u201d that would \u201cdisunify our majority.\u201d He said the leaders were \u201cworking with the administration.\u201d<\/p>\n

The moderates said later Wednesday that House leaders were trying to end the immigration standoff and that they could soon see a specific proposal on how to do that.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re willing to see what this looks like,\u201d said Rep. Carlos Curbelo, R-Fla., a leader of the lawmakers trying to force the House to address the issue. Conservatives had their own session with party leaders and also suggested there had been movement, but offered no specifics.<\/p>\n

Many of the legislators demanding action face potentially competitive re-election races in congressional districts with large numbers of Hispanic, suburban or agriculture-industry voters with pro-immigration views.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, competing bills aimed at protecting young immigrants and toughening border security \u2014 including one backed by Trump \u2014 collapsed in the Senate. The measures never received House votes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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