After Donald Trump spoke in Vegas today, a man who said he’s from Mexico confronted him during his Q&A and said he’s “incredibly insulted” by what Trump has been saying about illegal immigrants and Mexico.
He told Trump he’s being unfair to paint all illegal immigrants with a broad brush, but Trump piped up, “Did the government of Mexico ask you to come up and say this?”
The man dismissed Trump’s comment and asked him if he would build walls around every U.S. state to keep out all the rapists and criminals who are already in the United States and cross state lines.
Trump continued to stand by everything he’s said thus far on the matter, and right before they moved on, the man shouted, “Did you read the Statue of Liberty?”
Reality
It was completely unfair of Trump to dismiss this voter’s concerns and turn around and ask if the Mexican government sent him. There’s a word for this that escapes me at the moment, but it isn’t a good word.
The man who declared some Mexican immigrants to be criminals and “rapists” three weeks ago has a message for those in the Latino community offended by his remarks: “There’s nothing to apologize for.”
I’ll win the Latino vote because I’ll create jobs, I’ll create jobs and the Latinos will have jobs they didn’t have. I’ll do better on that vote than anybody. I will win that vote.
Trump both defended his relationship with the Latino community, “They love me!” he said, and doubled down on his remarks that Mexico is harming the U.S. at the border.
Don’t try and convince me that there’s no crime, that it’s wonderful. Mexico doesn’t want these people they’re forcing them into our country and we’re taking them and putting them in our jails and our hospitals and it’s a disgrace.
Reality
Saying Latinos will have jobs they haven’t had before is easily one of the most racist statements Trump has made, and he’s made a lot. Here Donald Trump is implying that Latinos can only be regulated to certain jobs and now under Trump he’ll have new jobs, just for Latinos.
Donal Trump tweeted that Jeb Bush likes “Mexican illegals because of his wife.” The tweet has since been deleted.
Thankfully things are never deleted on the internet.
The tweet stayed up for 24 hours before Trump deleted it.
Later at the Republican CNN debate on 9/16/2015, Trump was asked to apologize for the comment, to which he responded:
“No. I said nothing wrong.”
Reality
There is a reason why Trump tried to delete this tweet, it’s racist and intolerant as hell.
During his campaign speech, Donald Trump characterized Mexican immigrants as potential criminals and rapists, which we explained how and why this is racist. So he is starting from a basis of racism for his premise.
“We are disappointed and distressed by recent remarks about immigrants from Mexico. We do not believe the disparaging characterizations portray an accurate picture of the many Mexicans, Mexican Americans and Latinos who have made so many valuable contributions to the success of our nation,” Macy’s statement reads.
“In light of statements made by Donald Trump, which are inconsistent with Macy’s values, we have decided to discontinue our business relationship with Mr. Trump and will phase-out the Trump menswear collection, which has been sold at Macy’s since 2004.”
The GOP presidential hopeful fired back and insisted he’s the one terminating Macy’s.
He even ripped his own products because many are made in China.
“I have decided to terminate my relationship with Macy’s because of the pressure being put on them by outside sources. While selling Trump ties and shirts at Macy’s is a small business in terms of dollar volume, my principles are far more important and therefore much more valuable,” Trump said in a statement released by his campaign.
“I have never been happy about the fact that the ties and shirts are made in China, and should I start a new product line somewhere in the future, I would insist that they are made in America.”
The Donald admitted that using Chinese manufacturers was a good financial move that Americans could match.
Reality
Some people may argue about “political correctness run amok” but Donald Trump’s comments were clearly racist. Companies do business with more than just white people.
Ora TV joined the list of companies who fired Donald Trump over his comments about Mexicans during his announcement speech.
The TV production studio controlled by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim scrapped a planned project with Trump. “Working with such a closed-minded person would simply not work. Trump’s comments are racist,” said Ora TV chairman Arturo Elías Ayub.
Reality
Some people may argue about “political correctness run amok” but Donald Trump’s comments were clearly racist. Companies do business with more than just white people.
Televisa joined the list of companies who fired Donald Trump over his comments about Mexicans during his announcement speech.
The Mexican broadcaster said it would recall their country’s contestant from the Miss Universe pageant. “Mr. Trump hasn’t demonstrated understanding or respect toward Mexican migrants and has offended the entire Mexican population,” the company said in a statement.
Reality
Some people may argue about “political correctness run amok” but Donald Trump’s comments were clearly racist. Companies do business with more than just white people.
The craft brewer that supplies exclusive beer to a bar inside Chicago’s Trump Tower ended their business relationship with Trump. “We would be doing an injustice to the community we serve (and live in) by engaging in business with someone who does not accept our role in society and expresses a rhetoric of hate and ignorance towards us,” founder and co-owner Andres Araya said.
Reality
Some people may argue about “political correctness run amok” but Donald Trump’s comments were clearly racist. Companies do business with more than just white people.
Univision joined the list of companies who fired Donald Trump over his comments about Mexicans during his announcement speech.
The largest Spanish-language television network in the United States canceled its planned broadcasts of the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants, which Trump co-owns. “We will not be airing the Miss USA pageant on July 12th or working on any other projects tied to the Trump Organization,” the company said in a statement. In response, Trump is suing the company for $500 million.
Reality
Some people may argue about “political correctness run amok” but Donald Trump’s comments were clearly racist. Companies do business with more than just white people.
Donald J. Trump descended “Stair Force One” to announce his candidacy for the Republican nomination for the President of the United States of America and his first overtly racist comment by implying that the country of Mexico is intentionally sending immigrants who are criminals and rapists.
“When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”
Reality
Donald Trump described people from Mexico as having “lots of problems”, drug users, rapists, and criminals. By painting a large swath of people with a single brush as “dangerous” he is using baseless stereotyping in an attempt to prove that Hispanics are different in their social behavior.
You might try to make the case that immigrants are still committing crimes, even if they are at a lower rate of natural-born citizens, however that does not explain away the fact that Trump is singling out an individual ethnic group as the cause of the problems in America. That is why is statement is racist.
Immigrants generally have a stronger incentive than native-born Americans to stay out of legal trouble — especially undocumented immigrants, who risk deportation. And those who legally are in the United States (or are pursuing legal status) are required to pass a criminal background check.
“Immigrants in general — unauthorized immigrants in particular — are a self-selected group who generally come to the U.S. to work. And once they’re here, most of them want to keep their nose down and do their business, and they’re sensitive to the fact that they’re vulnerable,” said Marc Rosenblum, deputy director of the U.S. Immigration Policy Program at the Migration Policy Institute, a non-partisan think tank.
And the data backs up this theory.
Crime Rates
FALSE – According to the Congressional Research Service, incarcerated non-citizens represented 7.2% of the total incarcerated population of 2.4 million, a proportion similar to the noncitizen proportion of the foreign-born population. If illegal immigrants were bringing high crime then their should be a larger number of incarcerated illegal immigrants compared to the national population.
Mexicans Are Rapists
FALSE – Of all of the convictions of illegal immigrants in 2013 (the majority of whom were from Mexico) only 1.6% was sex offenses. Immigration offenses account for the largest portion of federal convictions of immigrants, followed by drugs, then traffic violations.
Crime Category
2013
Immigration
31.3%
Dangerous Drugs
15.4%
Traffic Violations
15.0%
Assault
10.2%
Burglary
2.8%
Weapon Offenses
2.7%
Larceny
2.7%
Fraud
2.6%
Sexual Assault
1.6%
Forgery
1.5%
Other
14.2%
Compare the 1.6% number to the national average of 12.2% of convicted prisoners who committed sexual offenses. So an illegal immigrant is 7.5x less likely to commit a sexual offense.
