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Cardin Blasts Trump Rhetoric on ‘Shithole’ Countries as Divisive, Ugly, Contrary to U.S. Values

“From the campaign trail to Charlottesville to yesterday’s Oval Office meeting, Donald Trump has repeatedly revealed what is in his mind and in his heart about people of color and those less fortunate than him. It is ugly; it is purposefully divisive; it is contrary to our values; and it has diminished the United States standing in the world.”

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the co-author of S. 2144, the Safe Environment from Countries Under Repression and in Emergency (SECURE) Act, a bill that would allow qualified Temporary Protected Status (TPS) recipients to apply for legal permanent residency, released the following statement Friday after it was reported and publicly confirmed by participants in attendance at a White House meeting that President Trump called some immigrants’ home countries in Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean ‘shitholes’:

“From the campaign trail to Charlottesville to yesterday’s Oval Office meeting, Donald Trump has repeatedly revealed what is in his mind and in his heart about people of color and those less fortunate than him. It is ugly; it is purposefully divisive; it is contrary to our values; and it has diminished the United States standing in the world. The President is seemingly motivated by polarizing American society, not by governing or leading the whole country. America does not become stronger by having the President of the United States tear down other nations in such crude terms. His deeply offensive comments come at a time when some members of Congress -- both Democratic and Republican -- are working in good faith to protect Dreamers and extend Temporary Protected Status for hundreds of thousands of people. The president does not care about the consequences of his words or actions. We can never allow this kind of language or conduct to be considered normal or acceptable for the leader of the free world.”

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