Former Mexican President Vicente Fox slammed President Donald Trump on Thursday, after reports surfaced that Trump had complained about people coming to the United States from “shithole countries” while discussing immigrants from El Salvador, Haiti and African countries.
Fox called out Trump over the remarks that sources first told The Washington Post came about during an Oval Office meeting with lawmakers who were discussing restoring protections for immigrants from those regions on Thursday.
“Your mouth is the foulest shithole in the world,” Fox tweeted directly at Trump. “With what authority do you proclaim who’s welcome in America and who’s not. America’s greatness is built on diversity, or have you forgotten your immigrant background, Donald?”
Sources that spoke to The Washington Post quoted Trump as saying: “Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?”
The president also reportedly suggested the U.S. should welcome more immigrants from countries like Norway. The controversial remarks were confirmed by NBC News, BuzzFeed and CNN.
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), who was at the White House meeting, also confirmed the comments to HuffPost on Friday. Durbin, who was the first to go on record over the reports, added Trump also said the U.S. should “take ... out” Haitians currently living in the U.S.
Trump seemed to deny reports that he referred to the nations as “shithole” countries in a series of tweets on Friday morning.
The Trump administration has already terminated temporary protected status for immigrants from Haiti and Nicaragua. Earlier this month, the Department of Homeland Security announced the administration would end temporary protected status for immigrants from El Salvador. The decision will leave more than 200,000 people currently living in the U.S. at risk of deportation starting September 2019.