President Trump unleashed a xenophobic tirade against Somali immigrants on Tuesday, calling them “garbage” he does not want in the United States as he tried to refocus public attention on his anti-immigration themes.
“These are people who do nothing but complain,” Mr. Trump said at the tail-end of a cabinet meeting at the White House. “They complain, and from where they came from, they got nothing.”
“When they come from hell and they complain and do nothing but bitch, we don’t want them in our country. Let them go back to where they came from and fix it,” Mr. Trump added as Vice President JD Vance banged the table in encouragement.
Even for a president who has frequently made derogatory comments about immigrants, the rant against Somalis was an alarming use of vulgarity from the White House against an entire community.
Mr. Trump said Somalia “stinks” and “we don’t want them.” He described Representative Ilhan Omar, a Democrat of Minnesota who came to the United States from Somalia as a refugee and became a citizen 25 years ago, as “garbage.”
“We could go one way or the other, and we’re going to go the wrong way if we keep taking in garbage into our country,” Mr. Trump said. “She’s garbage. Her friends, garbage. These aren’t people who work. These aren’t people who say ‘let’s go, come on, let’s make this place great.’”
Mr. Trump has long been fixated on Somalis in the United States — and in particular Ms. Omar.
“The congresswoman thinks his obsession with her is unhealthy and hopes he gets help,” Jacklyn Rogers, a spokeswoman for Ms. Omar, said earlier on Tuesday.
The comments followed a familiar playbook for Mr. Trump. He has often sought to refocus attention on his exclusionary immigration policies and rhetoric, particularly when his administration is facing pressure or crises on other fronts. Mr. Trump has most recently faced pressure from Democrats, as well as some of his own allies, on the issue of affordability, as well as legally debated strikes against vessels in the Caribbean.
Zolan Kanno-Youngs is a White House correspondent for The Times, covering President Trump and his administration.
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