Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) has issued an official statement to follow-up what he told reporters Friday morning regarding Donald Trump’s racist “shithole countries” rant. Yes, the president of the United States “used those words, and he used them repeatedly”:
In the course of his comments, President Trump said things that were hate-filled, vile, and racist. He used those words, and he used them repeatedly. I cannot believe that in the history of the White House, in that Oval Office, any president has ever spoken the words that I personally heard our president speak yesterday.
But as Donald Trump is intent on advancing his white supremacist agenda (one that is already having devastating fallout, following the U.S. Ambassador to Panama resigning “because he no longer feels he can comfortably serve under” Trump), legislators like Sen. Durbin are trying to address the national crisis of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients losing their work permits and protection from deportation:
I have a singular mission—to pass the Dream Act. Our deal is a genuine compromise—it addresses all the areas outlined by the President and represents honest concessions on both sides. That is the nature of compromise, and the President and others trying to derail a bipartisan deal do not have an alternative that can earn bipartisan support. We have seven days and the clock is ticking. Our bipartisan group continues to build support for the only deal in town.
A pro-immigrant agenda that is supported by nearly 80 percent of Americans who not only want Dreamers to stay, but say they deserve citizenship. This isn’t controversial. What is controversial is Republicans who are not only intent on derailing justice for Dreamers, but remain complicit in Trump’s white supremacist agenda by remaining silent regarding his racist attacks.