Trump comments 'harsh, offensive,' Vatican newspaper says

IMAGE: CNS/Bob Roller

By Cindy Wooden

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — In its continuing coverage of the U.S.
immigration debate, the Vatican newspaper noted media reports that President
Donald Trump “used particularly harsh and offensive words about immigrants”
from several countries.

“No agreement on Dreamers” was the headline on the
lead story for L’Osservatore Romano’s edition dated Jan. 13 and published late
Jan. 12.

In the past few days, the paper reported, “the tension
on the theme of immigration has risen noticeably” with Trump and a
bipartisan group from Congress meeting Jan. 11 to discuss a measure that would
keep the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program intact, but also
include Trump’s demands for a border wall.

The program, known by its initials DACA, protects from
deportation between 700,000 and 800,000 young people illegally brought to the
United States as children.

Based on media reports about the meeting, L’Osservatore
said, “Trump used particularly harsh and offensive words about immigrants
from El Salvador, Haiti and some African countries. The expressions immediately
gave rise to controversy and indignation.”

The Associated Press and other media outlets reported that, according to people present at the meeting, Trump questioned “why the U.S. would accept more immigrants from Haiti and ‘(expletive) countries'” in Africa.

While the Vatican newspaper noted that the White House did
not immediately deny the remarks, Trump later tweeted, “The language used
by me at the DACA meeting was tough, but this was not the language used.”

The Vatican newspaper also noted that a U.S. District Court
judge in San Francisco temporarily blocked Trump’s decision to rescind DACA and
that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced Jan. 8 that it was
ending a provision called Temporary Protected Status for some 200,000 citizens
of El Salvador currently in the United States.

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