Democrats, the mainstream media, and left-wing reporters are twisting President Trump’s words in calling MS-13 illegal alien gang members “animals.”

During a roundtable discussion of California’s sanctuary state laws, Fresno Sheriff Margaret Mims mentioned to Trump the difficulty of working with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency to notify them of an illegal alien MS-13 gang member.

In response, Trump called the MS-13 gang members “animals,” as he’s done in the past.

MIMS: There could be an MS-13 gang member, I know about, if they don’t reach a threshold, I cannot tell ICE about them. [Emphasis added] TRUMP: We have people coming into the country — they’re trying to come in, we’re stopping a lot of them — but we’re taking out of the country. 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. And because of the weak laws, they come in fast, we get them, we release them, we get them again, we bring them out. It’s crazy. The dumbest laws, as I said before, the dumbest laws on immigration in the world. So we’re going to take care of it. We’ll get it done. [Emphasis added]

Following the statement by Trump, the Daily Beast published a headline that claimed the president was referring to “some deported immigrants” when he called MS-13 gang members “animals.”

Neoconservative Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin attacked Trump’s Evangelical supporters, posting a link to a report by The Hill which claimed the president called all illegal aliens “animals.”

this is disgusting. and his evanglical sycophants will applaud his utter dehumanization of men, women and children https://t.co/qYbl6avzL1 — Jennifer Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) May 16, 2018

MSNBC anchor Andrea Mitchell repeated the false claim on her Twitter feed:

A tough take down by the California governor after @realDonaldTrump calls people trying to get into the country "animals" not people. https://t.co/LPKiHPJaWZ — Andrea Mitchell (@mitchellreports) May 16, 2018

NBC News reporter Benjy Sarlin called Trump’s attack on MS-13 gang members “a political tactic with a long and deadly history.”

One of Trump's most consistent rhetorical moves is comparing large classes of human beings to animals — a political tactic with a long and deadly history https://t.co/LB7SANCrB1 — Benjy Sarlin (@BenjySarlin) May 16, 2018

A reporter from the Guardian falsely claimed that Trump was referring to “some immigrants” when he called MS-13 gang members “animals.” The Guardian report posted an edited version of Trump’s remark, specifically omitting the portion where Sheriff Mims refers to MS-13 gang members.

https://twitter.com/ladyhaja/status/996845863908642818

A writer for New York Magazine claimed Trump “reserves” the term “‘animals’ only for brown people.”

Never, ever forget this fact: Donald Trump reserves the word "animals" only for brown people. https://t.co/vXJRZyDUn0 — Cristian Farias (@cristianafarias) May 16, 2018

CNN pundit Keith Boykin similarly said Trump’s referring to MS-13 gang members as “animals” implied racism and is “the same dehumanization tactic used by slaver traders.”

Trump referring to human beings as "animals" is the same dehumanization tactic used by slave traders and slave owners to justify the oppression of black people for hundreds of years. https://t.co/6LY6XJwFH4 — Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) May 16, 2018

A researcher with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee posted photos of children at the southern border alongside Trump’s remarks on MS-13 gang members.

Trump: "We're taking people out of the country — you wouldn't believe how bad these people are. These aren't people. These are animals." pic.twitter.com/GblCH6vu3B — Tyler Hansen (@tjhansen) May 16, 2018

The violent El Salvadorian MS-13 gang has flourished in the U.S. after decades of open borders policies whereby unaccompanied minors are resettled throughout the country. Sometimes, those unaccompanied minors are already members of MS-13 or become members.

As Breitbart Texas reported, there have been at least 200 murders by the MS-13 gang across 22 states since 2012. Most recently, Border Patrol revealed to Breitbart Texas that an MS-13 gang member traveling with a caravan of 1,200 Central Americans posed as an unaccompanied minor to gain entry to the U.S.

An explosive report by Breitbart News revealed that nearly 100 MS-13 gang members had been resettled across the country by the federal government as unaccompanied minors. Nearly 65 of those gang members were granted Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJ), which acts as a quasi-amnesty program for young illegal aliens who cross the southern border.