The ire over President Donald Trump's reported use of foul language while referring to immigrants last week is fomenting in the United States and abroad with hundreds converging on Times Square to protest racism, and Nicaragua joining the international chorus of criticism against Trump.
"Why are we having all these people from sh*thole countries come here,?" Trump was quoted as saying in a meeting with senators and House members last Thursday about immigration reform.
The office of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega said in a statement that Trump's apparent reference to impoverished African, Central American and Caribbean countries was "racist, disrespectful and humiliating."
Nicaragua joins the ranks of Botswana, El Salvador, Ghana, Haiti, Nigeria, the 15-nation Caribbean Community, the African Union and the African Group of UN ambassadors who have slammed the derogatory term.
Hundreds of protesters carrying Haitian flags and signs held a demonstration in Times Square Monday in protest against Trump's racist remarks.
New York City's Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio was among politicians who joined the rally against racism marking Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
"We are a country built by immigrants and we will not stand by as Donald Trump denigrates the people who come to this country," he said on Twitter before attending the rally.
Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, who was in the Oval Office when Trump addressed 23 members of Congress, insisted that the President made the remark, and said other offensive things.
Trump replied that he was "totally misrepresented" by Durbin, and said the allegation was hurting efforts to strike a deal to protect so-called Dreamer immigrants.
Mitt Romney, A vocal critic of Trump, criticized his controversial comment. An immigrant's "nation of origin is as irrelevant as their race," he wrote on Twitter.
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