After years of denials, President Donald Trump confirmed Tuesday night that he used the phrase “shithole countries” in 2018 to insult several countries with majority non-White populations, including Haiti, El Salvador and Somalia.
His turnabout came during an event in Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania — his first stop on a speaking tour nominally centered on his economic policies — when Trump mentioned pausing migration from 19 countries the administration has deemed high-risk. The group, he said, included “hellholes like Afghanistan, Haiti, Somalia, and many other countries.”
His comment triggered a member of the crowd to yell out “shithole countries!”
At first, Trump responded with “I didn’t say shithole. You did.” He then veered into a recounting of the 2018 Oval Office meeting about immigration where The Washington Post first reported he had used that specific description.
“So they came in. And they said, ‘This is totally off the record, nothing mentioned here, we want to be honest,’ because our country was going to hell. And we had a meeting,” Trump recounted Tuesday. “And I say, Why is it we only take people from shithole countries, right? Why can’t we have some people from Norway, Sweden — just a few, let us have a few … But we always take people from Somalia. Places that are a disaster, right? Filthy, dirty, disgusting, ridden with crime.”
Trump’s remarks at the Pennsylvania event seemed to be a nonchalant admission that he had in fact used such language during his first term to disparage Haiti, El Salvador and several countries in Africa. The Post had also reported that Trump — who was meeting with senators to discuss a bipartisan immigration deal — singled out Haiti and told the lawmakers he did not want any more immigrants from that Caribbean nation.
Reports of Trump’s comments in 2018 drew backlash from Democrats and some Republicans, as well as a condemnation from Haiti’s ambassador to the United States. They also prompted debate in newsrooms worldwide over whether to censor the remarks and, if not, how to translate the vulgar phrase.
At the time, Trump disputed The Post’s account, posting on social media that “this was not the language used.” He also denied saying “anything derogatory” about Haiti and accused Democrats of making things up.
Nearly eight years later, Trump has continued to rail against Haiti and Somalia in particular. During his 2024 presidential campaign, Trump pushed the false and dehumanizing claim that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were stealing and eating other residents’ pets.
“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs. The people that came in, they’re eating the cats. They’re eating — they’re eating the pets of the people that live there,” Trump said in a debate with Vice President Kamala Harris. “And this is what’s happening in our country. And it’s a shame.”
Last week, Trump ended a Cabinet meeting with a rant against Somali migrants, accusing them of having “ripped off” Minnesota’s social services system.
“They contribute nothing. I don’t want them in our country. I’ll be honest with you, okay?” Trump said. “Somebody said, ‘Oh, that’s not politically correct.’ I don’t care. I don’t want them in our country. Their country’s no good for a reason. Their country stinks, and we don’t want them in our country.”
Trump also griped to his Cabinet that Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota), who fled civil war in Somalia and later immigrated to the United States, complained about her adopted country too much.
“You know, our country is at a tipping point. … 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,” he said. “Ilhan Omar is garbage. She’s garbage. Her friends are garbage.”
Trump’s comments came amid reports that his administration is ramping up immigration enforcement efforts targeting undocumented Somali immigrants in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. Trump recently threatened to end temporary protected status for Somali immigrants in Minnesota and, without evidence, accused “Somali gangs” of terrorizing people there.
“Send them back to where they came from. It’s OVER!” Trump wrote on X late last month.
Matt Viser contributed to this report.
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