President Donald Trump on Thursday pushed back forcefully against Democrats who claimed he branded all illegal immigrants as ‘animals’ during a roundtable event on California’s ‘sanctuary cities’ laws a day before.
‘I’m referring – and you know I’m referring – to the MS-13 gangs that are coming in,’ Trump protested at the White House. ‘I was talking about the MS-13.’
‘MS-13, these are animals,’ he insisted, referring to the violent Salvadoran criminal organization, adding that ‘when the MS-13 comes in, when the other gang members come into our country, I refer to them as animals. And guess what? I always will.’
Trump spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters an hour earlier that the president was referring only to ‘horrible, horrible, disgusting people’ in MS-13.
The episode that unfolded after Wednesday’s event quickly became a political Rorschach test: Trump’s enemies insisted he was dehumanizing everyone living in the U.S. illegally, while his backers pointed to the context of his remarks as proof that he was talking only about the menacing gang.
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President Donald Trump defended himself Thursday against Democrats who claimed he had labeled all illegal immigrants ‘animals’ the day before; Trump said he was referring only to the violent Salvadoran ‘MS-13’ drug gang
White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders defended the president’s characterization of the gangsters as ‘animals,’ citing specific examples of gruesome rapes and murders and saying that the word ‘doesn’t go far enough’
MS-13 is a hyper-violent Salvadoran drug gang whose motto is ‘kill, steal, rape, control’
Sanders left little doubt about what Trump thought he was communicating.
‘The president was very clearly referring to MS-13 gang members who enter the country illegally, and whose deportations are hamstrung by our laws,’ she said.
‘This is one of the most vicious and deadly gangs, that operates by the motto of “Rape, control and kill.” If the media and liberals want to defend MS-13, they’re more than welcome to.’
She defended the characterization of the gangsters as ‘animals,’ citing specific examples of gruesome rapes and murders and saying that the word ‘doesn’t go far enough.’
‘It took an “animal” to stab a man 100 times and decapitate him and rip his heart out,’ an uncharacteristically sharp-tongued Sanders said. ‘It took an “animal” to beat a woman they were sex trafficking, with a bat, 28 times, indenting part of her body. And it took an animal to kidnap, drug and rape a 14-year-old Houston girl.’
On Wednesday the president heard Fresno County, California Sheriff Margaret Mims vent about her state’s law barring county and local police from cooperating with federal immigration authorities.
‘Now ICE is the only law enforcement agency that cannot use our databases to find the bad guys,’ she said, referring to criminal illegal immigrants.
News outlets rushed to air video of Trump Wednesday complaining about ‘animals’ coming across the U.S.-Mexico border, but omitted the context: Fresno County, California Sheriff Margaret Mims (pictured, center) engaging the presdient specifically about MS-13
There are about 10,000 MS-13 gangsters in the United States, most of them in the country illegally
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and California Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell fired off angry tweets at Trump that claimed he was applying the label ‘animals’ to ‘immigrants’ in general
‘There could be an MS-13 member I know about,’ she added moments later, complaining that if the case doesn’t ‘reach a certain threshold, I cannot tell ICE about it.’
Trump, who has specifically called MS-13 members ‘animals’ in the past, leapt in.
‘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,’ he said.
‘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.’
Twitter’s political ecosystem exploded in the hours that followed, with Democrats seeing Trump’s judgement as a broad, racist indictment of all immigrants.
‘When all of our great-great-grandparents came to America they weren’t “animals,” and these people aren’t either,’ griped New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, a persistent Trump critic.
Another Democrat, Nevada Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, directed her anger at Trump personally.
‘@realDonaldTrump, would you speak that way about your ancestors?’ she tweeted. ‘Let me tell you something: When you attack immigrants, you’re attacking me. You’re attacking my grandfather who crossed the Rio Grande to pursue the American Dream. RT to tell Pres. Trump you stand with immigrants!’
California Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell tweeted: ‘IF you are a decent person and were in a meeting where @realDonaldTrump called immigrants “animals,” you will denounce him NOW. Otherwise, what makes you any different?’
Trump has referred to MS-13 criminals as ‘animals’ in the past; he has also been openly hostile to illegal immigrants in general, giving his critics a foothold to suggest Wednesday’s comment was broader than the president meant it to be
Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe claimed that Trump’s comment signaled the beginning of fascism and represented a ‘tyrant’ scapegoating his opponents
Nevada Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto took Trump’s attack personally, based on a New York Times headline: ‘When you attack immigrants, you’re attacking me’
Mexico’s foreign minister weighed in later, condemning Trump even while acknowledging that his words may have had a narrow, targeted meaning.
‘President Trump referred to some immigrants – perhaps he had criminal gangs in mind, I don’t know – as animals, not as persons,’ Luis Videgaray said in an interview with local TV station Televisa.
‘In the opinion of the Mexican government this is absolutely unacceptable, and we are going to formally communicate this to the U.S. State Department today,’ he said.
Liberal Harvard University Law School professor Laurence Tribe tweeted Thursday morning that Trump had ‘actually said undocumented immigrants “aren’t people, they’re animals.” This is how fascism begins. Tyrants start by dehumanizing their scapegoats. Nobody should get used to this slide into the abyss.’
The tide had already begun to shift in the White House’s direction by then, when the Associated Press corrected its early reporting on the episode.
‘AP has deleted a tweet from late Wednesday on Trump’s “animals” comment about immigrants,’ the news agency said on Twitter, ‘because it wasn’t made clear that he was speaking after a comment about gang members.’
CNN anchor Jake Tapper posted a lengthy excerpt from the White House’s transcript, commenting: ‘Here is the full context of President Trump’s “animals” comment during the immigration/sanctuary city roundtable, which came as a Sheriff was complaining about restrictions placed on ICE databases, and MS-13 gang members.’
After MSNBC anchor Andrew Mitchell said Trump saw immigrants as ‘animals’ and ‘not people,’ Donald Trump Jr. opened up with both barrels
MS-13 gang members are pictured being arrested following a pre-dawn raid in Los Angeles County, California as a result of a two-year racketeering investigation
Senior White House aide Kellyanne Conway piled on, praising Tapper as an outlier: ‘Others who rushed to judgment to get the President rather than to get the story owe @POTUS – and the grieving loved ones who have lost family members to gang violence – an apology.’
Other outlets stayed silent, including two cable TV stations that had broadcast Trump’s comments Wednesday without sheriff Mims’ lead-in.
California Gov. Jerry Brown tweeted a Pinocchio emoji at the president, saying that he was ‘lying on immigration, lying about crime and lying about the laws of CA.’
‘A tough take down by the California governor,’ ruled MSNBC anchor Andrea Mitchell, ‘after @realDonaldTrump calls people trying to get into the country “animals” not people.’
Donald Trump Jr. had heard enough.
‘He was specifically talking about MS-13, and you know it,’ the president’s eldest son tweeted at Mitchell. ‘They are animals.’
Former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer noted that Trump had never used the word ‘animals’ as a blanket condemnation of immigrants in the past, chiding reporters for getting it wrong at first
The Associated Press withdrew a tweet as reporters dug into the context of Trump’s remarks, concluding that it was unfair to leave gang members out of the explanation
CNN anchor Jake Tapper tweeted a large section of the Transcript from Wednesday, drawing praise from White House counselor Kellyanne Conway
‘I know you would rather side with them than Trump as you so often make clear but it’s a bad look for you Andrea.’
Ari Fleischer, the White House press secretary during George W. Bush’s presidency, tut-tutted reporters who he believed had gotten it wrong.
‘On several previous occasions, Trump publicly referred to gang members as “animals”. He’s never referred to illegal immigrants with that word,’ Fleischer tweeted. ‘His previous language should have been a clue, but some things are too good to check. Hostility + sensationalism = bad reporting.’
‘The many journalists and editors who wrote/published these stories are killing good journalism,’ he added. ‘To those who wrote this nonsense: I get you don’t like Trump, but you’re only hurting yourselves.’
The name MS-13 stands for ‘Mara Salvatrucha,’ a combination of names for a San Salvador drug gang and the Salvatrucha guerrillas who fought in el Salvador’s civil war.
The group claims about 10,000 members in the United States, nearly all of whom are in the country illegally. Their motto is ‘kill, steal, rape, control.’