IMMIGRATION: This has merit

President Trump allegedly said that Haiti and African nations were “s***hole” countries. While some of us were shocked by the vulgarity of his comments, others may have thought it was just Trump being “politically incorrect” again. But Trump’s words are not the real issue here. The rest of Trump’s comments are more disturbing.

One of President Trump’s major goals is to reform our country’s immigration system. Americans of all political persuasions agree that our immigration system should be reformed. President Trump has stated that he would like an immigration system that focuses on immigrants’ skills rather than family connections. Other immigrant nations, such as Australia and Canada, use a merit-based system to evaluate immigrants, focusing on their education and job skills. I and many others agree that merit evaluation should have a place in our assessment of potential immigrants.

Unfortunately, President Trump’s recent alleged comments contradict his desire for a merit-based immigration system. Apparently, President Trump prefers immigrants from Norway, i.e. “white countries” over immigrants from “s***hole” countries — Africans, Haitians and Latin Americans, i.e. “black and brown countries.” It might surprise some that immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa are better educated than native-born Americans (https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2015-10-13/it-isn-t-just-asian-immigrants-who-excel-in-the-u-s-).

In my opinion, President Trump doesn’t really believe in merit-based immigration. Rather, he appears to prefer white immigrants over black and brown immigrants. To me, that is what is revolting and disgusting about the president’s remarks. Trump’s attitude is the very definition of racism. Our great nation deserves better from our president.

JOHN EMPSALL

Coeur d’Alene