Associated Press/Evan Vucci
President Donald Trump listens during a meeting with lawmakers on immigration policy in the Cabinet Room of the White House, Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018, in Washington.
- President Donald Trump reportedly asked why the US is accepting immigrants from "shithole countries."
- The comments came during an immigration meeting with a bipartisan group of lawmakers.
President Donald Trump reportedly questioned in a White House meeting on Thursday why the United States should accept immigrants from "shithole countries," referring to Haiti, El Salvador, and African countries.
"Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?" Trump said, according to The Washington Post.
He then reportedly suggested that the US instead accept immigrants from nations like Norway, whose prime minister he met with on Wednesday.
The comments came amid negotiations with a bipartisan group of senators seeking to resolve the fate of young unauthorized immigrants whose protections under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program are being phased out by the Trump administration.
The senators had suggested that the diversity visa lottery program, which hands out roughly 50,000 visas annually, be partially reallocated to immigrants already living in the US whose protections under a humanitarian program are being terminated by the Trump administration.
The White House announced earlier this week it would end the Temporary Protected Status for 200,000 Salvadorans who were allowed to live and work in the US legally after two severe earthquakes hit their home country in 2001.
The Trump administration has also ended TPS for 45,000 Haitians and 2,500 Nicaraguans. The program also covers immigrants from Honduras, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Syria, and Yemen.
The White House did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.