Dem Congresswoman Claims Trump Wants To Remove 'People of Color' from America
Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington state claimed Thursday that President Donald Trump’s agenda is to make America “pure” with no “folks of color” during an interview with MSNBC’s Chris Hayes.
During the interview, Hayes asked Jayapal, who is of Indian descent, whether any kind of bill to end the government shutdown could be crafted, given the wide difference between Democrats and the president over the Border Wall. Trump is seeking more than $5 billion for the project along America’s Southern Border.
“This has never been about a wall. He actually could have gotten funding a couple of years ago, or a year ago, for a wall. It was part of a deal that was proposed, not all of us agreed with that deal but it was proposed to him and he turned it down because his ultimate goal is, as you said, to make America ‘pure’ in the sense of not having immigrants, not having folks of color here, and shutting down every form of legal immigration all to throw a bone to those people,” she said.
She accused Trump of carrying the agenda of white supremacists, and targeted aide Steven Miller.
“That’s been the agenda of Steve Miller. It is a long-time agenda of these white supremacists who are fueling him at the base. And that is what is so disturbing,” Jayapal said, according to RealClearPolitics.
During Thursday’s visit to the border, Trump said a wall is the only answer.
“And it’s all common sense. And Nancy and Chuck know that. Look, they’re not winning this argument. They’re losing the argument badly. They know it. And it’s not about an argument, and it’s not about politics for me. It’s about doing the right thing. I mean, I could do a lot easier things. I could just forget this like everyone else did. This should have been done 30 years ago, and 20 years ago, and 10 years ago, and 5 years ago. I could have done like everyone else, just sort of say, ‘Hey, forget it,'” he said, according to a media pool report.
Jayapal said she hoped Trump’s policy will “backfire on him”:
“If you look at where immigration fared in the 2018 elections, we actually found people turning away from this view, that it was too racist, too bigoted, too xenophobic, and people coming over. Because, You know, most people in America do remember that they are one generation, two generations, just a little bit removed. They were uncomfortable with the level to which this has gone,” she said.
I joined @allinwithchris to discuss the border wall. Trump has never been interested in being a president for the whole country. People of color and immigrants know this too well.
His wall was never about policy: it has always about Trump’s efforts to lead a more “pure” America. pic.twitter.com/lUdgVIQVzG
— Rep. Pramila Jayapal (@RepJayapal) January 11, 2019
“And so I hope that this can backfire on him and I hope that it continues to backfire on him because he has never been interested in being a president for the whole country,” she said.
Jayapal said Trump’s efforts to stop illegal immigration are wrong.
“He’s only interested in throwing out red meat. And I just have to say, as an immigrant myself, it is so deeply offensive to see the harm that he’s causing to people across the country, people who are terrified, who don’t feel that they belong. The people who are seeking asylum, who no longer can get in, even though it’s legal to seek asylum, and not just at a legal port of entry,” she said.
She also claimed that many populations in America are suffering.
“You know, all of the people who have come to this country because of what we represent, the deep harm that is being done and the violence that’s being committed against Muslims through hate crimes, against Latinos, against folks of color; there is real damage, not only to real people, but also to our soul and our psyche,” she said.
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