President Donald Trump detoured from touting his tariff-based economic policies to make a plainly racist claim about migrant laborers during his Tuesday morning appearance on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
Echoing the bigotry of centuries past, the president claimed that migrants are uniquely suited to physically strenuous farm work, asserting that it comes “naturally” to them.
“In many ways,” Trump added, “they’re very, very special people.”
The comment came as Trump acknowledged that his severe crackdown on immigration, including arrests of people who are following judges’ orders, has impacted U.S. agriculture, which relies heavily on migrant labor. Much of that workforce is Latino or non-white.
“We’re taking care of our farmers. We can’t let our farmers not have anybody. … These people, you can’t replace them very easily,” Trump said on CNBC.
