In bluntly vulgar language, President Donald Trump questioned Thursday why the U.S. would accept more immigrants from Haiti and 鈥渟hithole countries鈥� in Africa rather than places like Norway, as he rejected a bipartisan immigration deal, according to people briefed on the extraordinary Oval Office conversation. Trump on Friday denied using that language.
Trump鈥檚 contemptuous description of an entire continent startled lawmakers in the meeting and immediately revived charges that the president is racist. The White House did not deny his remark but issued a statement saying Trump supports immigration policies that welcome 鈥渢hose who can contribute to our society.鈥�
Yet Trump himself tweeted Friday: 鈥淭he language used by me at the DACA meeting was tough, but this was not the language used.鈥� He went on to criticize the immigration deal, saying: 鈥淲hat was really tough was the outlandish proposal made - a big setback for DACA!鈥�
The White House did not immediately respond to questions about the president鈥檚 tweet.
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Trump鈥檚 comments Thursday came as two senators presented details of a bipartisan compromise that would extend protections against deportation for hundreds of thousands of young immigrants 鈥� and also strengthen border protections, as Trump has insisted.
The lawmakers had hoped Trump would back their accord, an agreement among six senators evenly split among Republicans and Democrats, ending a monthslong, bitter dispute over protecting the 鈥渄reamers.鈥� But the White House later rejected it, plunging the issue back into uncertainty just eight days before a deadline that threatens a government shutdown.
Dick Durbin of Illinois, the Senate鈥� s No. 2 Democrat, explained that as part of that deal, a lottery for visas that has benefited people from Africa and other nations would be ended, the sources said, though there could be another way for them to apply. Durbin said people who would be allowed to stay in the U.S. included those who had fled here after disasters hit their homes in places such as El Salvador, Guatemala and Haiti.
Trump specifically questioned why the U.S. would want to admit more people from Haiti. As for Africa, he asked why more people from 鈥渟hithole countries鈥� should be allowed into the U.S., the sources said.
The president suggested that instead, the U.S. should allow more entrants from countries like Norway. Trump met this week with Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg.
Asked about the remarks, White House spokesman Raj Shah did not deny them.
鈥淐ertain Washington politicians choose to fight for foreign countries, but President Trump will always fight for the American people,鈥� he said.
Trump鈥檚 remarks were remarkable even by the standards of a president who has been accused of racism by his foes and who has routinely smashed through public decorum that his modern predecessors have generally embraced.
Trump has inaccurately claimed that Barack Obama, the nation鈥檚 first black president, wasn鈥檛 born in the United States. He has said Mexican immigrants were 鈥渂ringing crime鈥� and were 鈥渞apists.鈥� He said there were 鈥渧ery fine people on both sides鈥� after violence at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, left one counter-protester dead.
House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer of Maryland said, 鈥淧resident Trump鈥檚 comments are racist and a disgrace.鈥� But it wasn鈥檛 just Democrats objecting.
Republican Rep. Mia Love of Utah, the daughter of Haitian immigrants, said Trump鈥檚 comments were 鈥渦nkind, divisive, elitist and fly in the face of our nation鈥檚 values.鈥� She said, 鈥淭his behaviour is unacceptable from the leader of our nation鈥� and called on Trump to apologize to the American people 鈥渁nd the nations he so wantonly maligned.鈥�
Trump has called himself the 鈥渓east racist person that you鈥檝e ever met.鈥�
The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren鈥檛 authorized to publicly describe the conversation. One said lawmakers in the room were taken aback by Trump鈥檚 remarks.
The Trump administration announced late last year that it would end a temporary residency permit program that allowed nearly 60,000 citizens from Haiti to live and work in the United States following a devastating 2010 earthquake.
Trump has spoken positively about Haitians in public. During a 2016 campaign event in Miami, he said 鈥渢he Haitian people deserve better鈥� and told the audience of Haitian-Americans he wanted to 鈥渂e your greatest champion, and I will be your champion.鈥�
The agreement that Durbin and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., described to Trump also includes his $1.6 billion request for a first installment on his long-sought border wall, aides familiar with the agreement said. They required anonymity because the agreement is not yet public.
Trump鈥檚 request covers 74 miles of border wall as part of a 10-year, $18 billion proposal.
Democrats had long vowed they wouldn鈥檛 fund the wall but are accepting the opening request as part of a broader plan that protects from deportation about 800,000 鈥淒reamers.鈥� The deal also would include restrictions on a program allowing immigrants to bring some relatives to the U.S.
In an afternoon of drama and confusing developments, four other GOP lawmakers 鈥� including hardliners on immigration 鈥� were also in Trump鈥檚 office for Thursday鈥檚 meeting, a development sources said Durbin and Graham did not expect. It was unclear why the four Republicans were there, and the session did not produce the results the two senators were hoping for.
鈥淭here has not been a deal reached yet,鈥� said White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders. But she added, 鈥淲e feel like we鈥檙e close.鈥�
Underscoring the hurdles facing the effort, other Republicans undercut the significance of the deal the half-dozen senators hoped to sell to Trump.
鈥淗ow do six people bind the other 94 in the Senate? I don鈥檛 get that,鈥� said No. 2 Senate Republican John Cornyn of Texas.
The six senators have been meeting for months to find a way to revive protections for the 鈥淒reamers.鈥� Trump ended the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program last year but has given Congress until March 5 to find a way to keep it alive.
Federal agencies will run out of money and have to shut down if lawmakers don鈥檛 pass legislation extending their financing by Jan. 19. Some Democrats are threatening to withhold their votes 鈥� which Republicans will need to push that legislation through Congress 鈥� unless an immigration accord is reached.
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Associated Press writers Jill Colvin, Andrew Taylor, Kevin Freking and Matthew Daly contributed to this report.
Alan Fram And Jonathan Lemire, The Associated Press
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