“You wouldn’t believe how bad these people are. These aren’t people. These are animals,” President Donald Trump said. | Olivier Douliery/Getty Images Trump: ‘Animals’ comment referred to MS-13 gang members

President Donald Trump on Thursday said he was referring to MS-13 gang members when he called some undocumented immigrants “animals” a day earlier, after his remarks prompted a partisan spat online.

“You know I'm referring to the MS-13 gangs that are coming in. I was talking about the MS-13,” the president said in response to a question from a reporter. “So, I'm actually surprised that you’re asking this question because most people got it right.”


The dust-up began Wednesday when, during a roundtable on so-called sanctuary cities, Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims brought up the gang while expressing concern about a California law that forbids local authorities informing U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement of undocumented immigrants in the state’s jails.

Trump has often talked about cracking down on the gang, which originated in Los Angeles.

“We have people coming into the country, or trying to come in — and we’re stopping a lot of them — but we’re taking people out of the country,” Trump responded. “You wouldn’t believe how bad these people are. These aren’t people. These are animals. And we’re taking them out of the country at a level and at a rate that’s never happened before.”

While Mims referred to MS-13, Trump did not explicitly mention the gang.

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Democrats responded angrily to the idea that Trump would call immigrants “animals.”

“When all of our great-great-grandparents came to America they weren’t ‘animals,’ and these people aren’t either,” tweeted Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).

“IF you are a decent person and were in a meeting where @realDonaldTrump called immigrants ‘animals,’ you will denounce him NOW. Otherwise, what makes you any different?” Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) wrote on Twitter.

President Barack Obama’s former White House photographer, Pete Souza, on Wednesday shared a photo of zebras on his Instagram page, which has 1.9 million followers, with the caption: “Dear sir: THESE are animals.” Though he did not refer to Trump by name, Souza has in the past criticized the president on Instagram, critiquing his statements and administration.

The comment comes about two months after the president reportedly complained about immigrants coming from “shithole countries” during a discussion with lawmakers about a bipartisan immigration deal, which never came to fruition. The comment was directed toward immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador and African countries.

The president referred to Mexicans as “rapists,“ “killers” and “murderers" during the 2016 presidential campaign cycle.

Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Thursday afternoon told reporters he was referring to MS-13 gang members “who enter the country illegally and whose deportations are hamstrung by our laws.”

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“MS-13 has done heinous acts. It took an animal to stab a man 100 times and decapitate him and rip his heart out. It took an animal to beat a woman they were sex trafficking with a bat 28 times, indenting part of her body. And it took an animal to kidnap, drug and rape a 14-year-old Houston girl,” she said.

"Frankly, I think that the term ‘animal’ doesn’t go far enough, and I think the president should continue to use his platform and everything he can do under the law to stop these types of horrible, horrible, disgusting people,” she continued.

And on Thursday, Trump was more precise with his language.

“MS-13, these are animals. They’re coming into our country, we are getting them out. They come in again. We are getting them out,” he said. “So when the MS-13 comes in, when the other gang members come into our country, I refer to them as animals. And guess what? I always will.”

The California law under discussion at the White House event, which was signed by Gov. Jerry Brown last year, says that police cannot inform immigration officials about undocumented immigrants in jails even if they believe they are part of a gang. Undocumented immigrants who have been convicted of any of about 800 crimes, mostly felonies, can be transferred to federal immigration authorities, though.

Brown responded to Trump on Twitter, saying that the president “is lying on immigration, lying about crime and lying about the laws” of California.

“Flying in a dozen Republican politicians to flatter him and praise his reckless policies changes nothing. We, the citizens of the fifth largest economy in the world, are not impressed,” Brown said.

