President Trump said Tuesday he wants immigrants from “everywhere,” pushing back on reports he said the U.S. should bring in more people from countries like Norway.
“I want them to come in from everywhere. Everywhere,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when asked about his comments.
The president spoke before a meeting with Kazakh leader Nursultan Nazarbayev.
{mosads}It was Trump’s latest response to the firestorm surrounding vulgar comments he reportedly made last week during a White House meeting with lawmakers on immigration.
Trump reportedly referred to African nations, El Salvador and Haiti as “shithole countries” and asked why the U.S. should take in migrants from those places.
The comments, which Trump has denied making, renewed accusations that the president is a racist.
They have also helped derail talks on spending and immigration legislation ahead of a Jan. 19 deadline to prevent a government shutdown.
Before Tuesday, the president had not disputed the substance of his remarks. Trump tweeted Friday that he does not want large numbers of immigrants from “high-crime countries which are doing badly.”