On Thursday, January 11, President Trump attended a meeting in the Oval Office, where they had a discussion about protecting immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador and African countries as part of a bipartisan immigration deal and according to others in the meeting, Trump got frustrated.

“Why are we having all these people from sh**hole countries come here?” said Donald Trump, according to those present.

Trump then stated that the United States should bring in more people from countries like Norway. The president also said that he would like to more Asian immigrants because he felt that they help the United States economically. He also singled out Haiti, saying that these immigrants must be left out of the deal

“Why do we need more Haitians?” Trump said, according to people familiar with the meeting.

White House spokesmen Raj Shah defended Trump without directly addressing his comments.

“Certain Washington politicians choose to fight for foreign countries, but President Trump will always fight for the American people,” He said. “Like other nations that have merit-based immigration, President Trump is fighting for permanent solutions that make our country stronger by welcoming those who can contribute to our society, grow our economy and assimilate into our great nation.”

Trump’s foundation of not only his candidacy but now his precidency has been circled around his ideas on immigration, his most popular being the wall separating America and Mexico. Officials at the Department of Homeland Security have already increased immigration raids.

Rep. Cedric L. Richmond, chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, said on Twitter that Trump’s remarks “are further proof that his Make America Great Again Agenda is really a Make America White Again agenda.”

Haiti’s ambassador to the United States, Paul G. Altidor, said that “the president was either misinformed or miseducated about Haiti and its people.” He said the Haitian Embassy was flooded with emails from Americans apologizing for what the president said.

“This is very alarming. We know he’s not presidential, but this is a low,”  said Alix Desulme, a city council member in North Miami. “It’s disheartening that someone who is the leader of the free world would use such demeaning language to talk about other folks, referring to folks of color.”