Trump previously denied using the language about Haiti, El Salvador and several African countries — before his nonchalant admission at a rally Tuesday.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/12/10/trump-shithole-countries-comment-admission
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.”.....
“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......
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.
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