Two days after Trump muddied the waters about Dreamers during his televised exhibition to show his deal making and mental acuity, he clarified his position on immigration in a private meeting with lawmakers. Unfortunately for Trump and all Americans, his clarification unveiled how his racism and support for white supremacy underlies his immigration policy.
Following up on the earlier meeting, Senators Dick Durbin and Lindsey Graham arranged to meet with Trump to present their bipartisan proposal for permanently legalizing the status of the Dreamers. When Durbin and Graham arrived, Trump, surrounded by eight or so immigration hardliners, had reversed his initial agreeability to their proposal. A heated discussion about protecting immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador, and African countries in a temporary status followed. According to several people in the meeting, Trump asked: “why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?” Trump then suggested that more people from countries like Norway should be admitted to the U.S. and said specifically that Haitians should be left out of any deal. “Why do we need more Haitians?” “Take them out.”
Following up on the earlier meeting, Senators Dick Durbin and Lindsey Graham arranged to meet with Trump to present their bipartisan proposal for permanently legalizing the status of the Dreamers. When Durbin and Graham arrived, Trump, surrounded by eight or so immigration hardliners, had reversed his initial agreeability to their proposal. A heated discussion about protecting immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador, and African countries in a temporary status followed. According to several people in the meeting, Trump asked: “why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?” Trump then suggested that more people from countries like Norway should be admitted to the U.S. and said specifically that Haitians should be left out of any deal. “Why do we need more Haitians?” “Take them out.”
Although some administration officials claimed that Trump’s words were an attempt to reinforce his position on a merit-based immigration system Trump, did not mention the skills or qualifications of immigrants from any of the countries or regions mentioned. Trump apparently hopes that a merit-based system will limit immigration from non-white countries. Trump is apparently so racist that he believes a merit-based system would eliminate immigrants from those countries. From his words, Trump clearly wants a race-based immigration system as the U.S. had until 1965 (Emergency Immigration Act of 1921). A return to such a race-based immigration system is a return to white supremacy. Is this what he means when he promises to “Make America Great Again”?