El Salvador lodged a protest with the Trump administration Friday, saying President Trump insulted the country when he reportedly made derogatory comments about the nation in a closed-door meeting a day earlier.
In a statement the Salvadoran government demanded to be treated with more respect, saying its citizens are contributing to the U.S. economy, were part of work crews that rebuilt the Pentagon after the 2001 terrorist attack, and are part of international peacekeeping missions.
Mr. Trump, meeting with lawmakers about immigration on Thursday, questioned a proposal to grant a new pathway to citizenship to people from Haiti, El Salvador and other Central American nations and some African nations who currently have hundreds of thousands of their citizens living in the U.S. under what’s supposed to be temporary humanitarian protections.
The president was questioning the new citizenship proposal, which had not been part of immigration conversations, and used an expletive to describe the countries, one senator said.
Mr. Trump has denied he used the expletive, though he did acknowledge using harsh language to describe conditions in those countries.
Most of the countries in question are desperate to have their citizens stay in the U.S., even though in many cases the countries have recovered from the disasters that led to the humanitarian protection. Analysts said the countries have become reliant on the money their citizens send back home.
Nearly 30 percent of Haiti’s economy, 18 percent of the Honduran economy and 17 percent of El Salvador’s economy come from remittances, or money send back home by their citizens working abroad.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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