Title: Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding President Donald J. Trump's remarks about Haiti, El Salvador, and African Nations.
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
Expresses support and respect for Haiti, El Salvador, and African nations.
Censures and condemns President Trump for his derogatory statements about Haiti and other countries at the January 11, 2018, White House meeting and calls on him to retract and apologize for such remarks.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 700 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>






115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 700

    Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding 
   President Donald J. Trump's remarks about Haiti, El Salvador, and 
                            African Nations.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 18, 2018

   Mr. Richmond (for himself, Mr. Nadler, Mr. Clyburn, Mr. Carson of 
Indiana, Ms. Bass, Ms. Moore, Mrs. Lawrence, Mr. Brown of Maryland, Ms. 
Clarke of New York, Mr. Lewis of Georgia, Ms. Norton, Ms. Maxine Waters 
 of California, Mr. Bishop of Georgia, Mr. Hastings, Ms. Eddie Bernice 
  Johnson of Texas, Mr. Rush, Mr. Scott of Virginia, Mr. Thompson of 
   Mississippi, Ms. Jackson Lee, Mr. Cummings, Mr. Danny K. Davis of 
Illinois, Mr. Meeks, Ms. Lee, Mr. Clay, Mr. David Scott of Georgia, Mr. 
   Butterfield, Mr. Cleaver, Mr. Al Green of Texas, Mr. Ellison, Mr. 
  Johnson of Georgia, Ms. Fudge, Ms. Sewell of Alabama, Ms. Wilson of 
Florida, Mr. Payne, Mrs. Beatty, Mr. Jeffries, Mr. Veasey, Ms. Kelly of 
Illinois, Ms. Adams, Ms. Plaskett, Mrs. Watson Coleman, Mr. Evans, Ms. 
Blunt Rochester, Mrs. Demings, Mr. Lawson of Florida, Mr. McEachin, Mr. 
Delaney, Ms. Lofgren, Ms. Pelosi, Mr. Hoyer, Mr. Cohen, Mr. Deutch, Mr. 
 Gutierrez, Mr. Cicilline, Mr. Swalwell of California, Mr. Ted Lieu of 
  California, Mr. Raskin, Ms. Jayapal, Mr. Schneider, Ms. Kaptur, Mr. 
    Levin, Mr. Pallone, Mr. Engel, Mr. Serrano, Mr. Price of North 
Carolina, Ms. DeLauro, Ms. Eshoo, Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney of New York, 
 Ms. Velazquez, Ms. DeGette, Mr. McGovern, Mr. Pascrell, Mr. Sherman, 
 Mr. Capuano, Mr. Crowley, Mr. Larson of Connecticut, Mrs. Napolitano, 
Ms. Schakowsky, Mr. Thompson of California, Mr. Langevin, Ms. McCollum, 
 Mr. Ryan of Ohio, Mr. Higgins of New York, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, Ms. 
Matsui, Mr. Sires, Ms. Castor of Florida, Mr. Courtney, Mr. Perlmutter, 
Mr. Welch, Mr. Yarmuth, Mr. Connolly, Mr. Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico, 
 Ms. Pingree, Mr. Quigley, Ms. Judy Chu of California, Mr. Garamendi, 
  Mr. Foster, Mr. Keating, Ms. Bonamici, Ms. Titus, Ms. Hanabusa, Mr. 
   Bera, Ms. Brownley of California, Mr. Cardenas, Ms. Gabbard, Mr. 
  Huffman, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Kildee, Mr. Lowenthal, Ms. Michelle Lujan 
Grisham of New Mexico, Mr. Sean Patrick Maloney of New York, Ms. Meng, 
      Mr. O'Rourke, Mr. Pocan, Mr. Vargas, Mr. Vela, Ms. Clark of 
 Massachusetts, Mr. DeSaulnier, Mr. Moulton, Ms. Barragan, Mr. Crist, 
Mr. Espaillat, Mr. Khanna, Mr. Soto, Mr. Gomez, Ms. Frankel of Florida, 
Mr. Larsen of Washington, Ms. Shea-Porter, Mr. Tonko, Mr. Doggett, Ms. 
Slaughter, Mr. Cooper, Mr. Beyer, Mr. Michael F. Doyle of Pennsylvania, 
     Mrs. Lowey, Mrs. Davis of California, Ms. Rosen, Mr. Smith of 
  Washington, Mr. Grijalva, Mrs. Torres, Mr. Lynch, Mr. Aguilar, Mr. 
Takano, Ms. Sanchez, Ms. Speier, Mr. Sarbanes, Mr. Brendan F. Boyle of 
 Pennsylvania, Mr. Schiff, Mrs. Dingell, Mr. Polis, Mr. Gene Green of 
 Texas, Mr. Heck, Ms. Esty of Connecticut, Mr. Neal, Ms. DelBene, Mr. 
  Ruppersberger, and Mr. Kilmer) submitted the following resolution; 
 which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition 
 to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, for a period to be subsequently 
   determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 
 provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
    Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding 
   President Donald J. Trump's remarks about Haiti, El Salvador, and 
                            African Nations.

Whereas, on January 11, 2018, President Trump met with several Members of 
        Congress in the White House to discuss a proposed bipartisan immigration 
        compromise which would have, among other things, provided for permanent 
        protection to immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador, and other countries 
        that have recently lost Temporary Protected Status designation;
Whereas according to first-hand participants and several people briefed on the 
        meeting, when the issue of Temporary Protected Status came up, President 
        Trump stated, ``Haitians, why do we need more Haitians? Take them 
        out.'';
Whereas in a separate part of the discussion, referencing other components of 
        the proposal, President Trump referred to African nations as ``shithole 
        countries'' or ``shithouse countries'';
Whereas President Trump suggested that the United States should instead allow 
        immigration by more people from countries like Norway;
Whereas after the President's remarks were made public, the White House made no 
        initial effort to deny their accuracy, White House staffers predicted 
        that the President's ``shithole'' remark would ``resonate with his 
        base'', and conservative radio host Erick Erickson tweeted that 
        President ``Trump himself was calling friends to brag about [using 
        vulgar words such as `shithole' or `shithouse'] afterwards. I spoke to 
        one of those friends. The President thought it would play well with the 
        base.'';
Whereas the Daily Stormer, a notorious neo-Nazi website, welcomed President 
        Trump's comments as being ``encouraging and refreshing, as it indicates 
        Trump is more or less on the same page with us with regards to race and 
        immigration.'';
Whereas President Trump's remarks have been confirmed by numerous direct and 
        indirect sources, including--

    (1) Senator Dick Durbin, a participant in the January 11 meeting at the 
White House, who stated that the President had made comments ``which were 
hate-filled, vile, and racist'', and that ``you've seen the comments in the 
press. I've not read one of them that's inaccurate. . .He said those hate-
filled things, and he said them repeatedly'' and confirmed that President 
Trump referred to African nations as ``shitholes not just once, but 
repeatedly'';

    (2) Senator Lindsay Graham, another participant in the January 11 
meeting who admonished President Trump for his choice of words during the 
meeting, telling the President, ``America is an idea, not a race''; and 
informed Senator Tim Scott that the reported comments by the media are 
``basically accurate''; and

    (3) Senator Jeff Flake, who said that he had heard about President 
Trump's comments from participants in the meeting and stated ``they said 
those words were used before those words went public'';

Whereas two other participants in the January 11 meeting, Senator Tom Cotton and 
        David Perdue, issued a statement saying ``we do not recall the President 
        saying these comments specifically,'' in subsequent media appearances 
        they sought to deny that President Trump used the term ``shithole,'' and 
        a senior Republican source subsequently told CNN that ``instead of 
        hearing the President say `shithole', some Republicans heard Trump say 
        `shithouse'.'';
Whereas these statements by President Trump have been decried by many in the 
        international community, including--

    (1) a United Nations human rights spokesman who said the only word to 
describe President Trump's comment is ``racist'', and ``you cannot dismiss 
entire countries and continents as `shitholes', whose entire populations, 
who are not white, are therefore not welcome'';

    (2) an African Union spokesperson, speaking for the organization that 
represents all 55 nations of the African continent, said ``considering the 
historical reality of how many Africans arrived in the U.S. during the 
Atlantic slave trade, this flies in the face of all accepted behavior and 
practice'';

    (3) the President of Haiti, when speaking at a ceremony commemorating 
the eighth anniversary of the devastating Haitian earthquake, who stated, 
``the Haitian government condemns in the strongest terms these abhorrent 
and obnoxious remarks'';

    (4) El Salvador, which sent a formal letter of protest;

    (5) the President of Senegal, who stated, ``I am shocked by President 
Trump's words on Haiti and Africa. I reject them and condemn them 
vigorously'';

    (6) the Botswana Government, which issued a statement describing the 
remarks as ``highly irresponsible, reprehensible, and racist''; and

    (7) the South African Government, which issued a diplomatic protest to 
the United States; and

Whereas, as a result of these concerns, United States diplomats in Haiti and 
        other countries have been called by their host countries to explain the 
        President's remarks: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives does hereby--
            (1) publicly state our support and respect for Haiti, El 
        Salvador, and African nations;
            (2) censure and condemn President Donald Trump for his 
        statements at the January 11, 2018, White House meeting, which 
        are hateful, discriminatory, and racist, and cannot and should 
        not be the basis of any American policy, including immigration 
        policy; and
            (3) call on President Trump to retract and apologize for 
        these hateful, discriminatory, and racist remarks and any 
        offense they have caused.
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