Donald Trump accused asylum seekers of making “frivolous” claims in order to stay in America and suck up its financial resources.
Trump made the charge during a speech unveiling a new immigration reform plan in the Rose Garden on Thursday afternoon.
The president told the assembled media, White House staff and designated clappers that the “frivolous claims to gain admission” into America from asylum-seekers “strains our public school systems, our hospitals and local shelters.”
He went on to complain that taking care of these immigrants takes funds away from “elderly veterans, at-risk youth, Americans in poverty, and those in genuine need of protection.”
Trump in Rose Garden speech paints asylum seekers with broad brush accusing them of misleading immigration authorities at border: “These are frivolous claims.”
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) May 16, 2019 [1]
It takes some balls for Trump, a man whose budget requests to Congress every year slash funding for education, public health and poverty assistance and who last year proposed cutting cost-of-living increases to disabled veterans who rely on federal benefits, to turn around and blame allegedly phony asylum seekers for taking all that money away instead.
It is however a hallmark of autocrats everywhere to blame outsiders for stealing resources from a nation’s citizens without citing a lick of evidence.
WATCH:
Even by Trump standards, this is some disgusting bigotry and division, as he claims asylum seekers are stealing money from veterans. pic.twitter.com/FiUS21X0WX [2]
— PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) May 16, 2019 [3]
Now Trump is talking about how the country welcomes immigrants.
This is from a speech prepared for him.
Off the cuff not too long ago, his response to asylum seekers: "Our country is full."
— S.V. Dáte (@svdate) May 16, 2019 [4]