Trump Continues to Say Immigrants Have 'Poisoned' Country

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On to Tuesday’s post.

A Friday tweet from Shannon Watts of Moms Demand Action and Everytown garnered close to 10 million views so far on Twitter (X). Here is the video clip:

The video is from an appearance at the Moms for Liberty Summit in Washington, D.C. According to The Associated Press, this is what Trump said: “Our country is being poisoned. And your schools and your children are suffering greatly because they’re going into the classrooms and taking disease, and they don’t even speak English. It’s crazy.”

This is the full appearance:

As with anything regarding migrant communities and English, here are some facts, directly taken from Pew Research this year:

About half of immigrants ages 5 and older (54%) are proficient English speakers—they either speak English very well (37%) or speak only English at home (17%).

Immigrants from Canada (97%), Oceania (82%), sub-Saharan Africa (76%), Europe (75%) and South Asia (73%) have the highest rates of English proficiency.

Immigrants from Mexico (36%) and Central America (35%) have the lowest proficiency rates.

Immigrants who have lived in the U.S. longer are somewhat more likely to be English proficient. Some 45% of immigrants who have lived in the U.S. for five years or less are proficient, compared with 56% of immigrants who have lived in the U.S. for 20 years or more.

Spanish is the most commonly spoken language among U.S. immigrants. About four-in-ten immigrants (41%) speak Spanish at home. Besides Spanish, the top languages immigrants speak at home are English only (17%), Chinese (6%), Filipino/Tagalog (4%), French or Haitian Creole (3%), and Vietnamese (2%).

In response to Trump’s comments, two individuals who earned their political credibility during the undocumented rights movement of the Obama years posted direct reactions to what Trump said.

Others shared their stories:

What We’re Reading

Trump and Puerto Ricans: Trump was also in Pennsylvania this weekend, at one point earning the endorsement of Anuel AA, a Puerto Rican reggaetón and rap celebrity with over 38 million Instagram followers.

“I don’t know if these people know who the hell you are, but it’s good for the Puerto Rican vote. Every Puerto Rican is going to vote for Trump right now. We’ll take it,” Trump said at the rally.

Anuel AA also posted an endorsement on Instagram.

As for what this all means, this is nothing new. For example, from 2008:

Meanwhile, while Anuel AA showed up on stage with Trump, Bad Bunny is being vocal about how the upcoming elections in Puerto Rico are a real opportunity for change.

The New Yorker Cover: Over at Twitter again, The New Yorker shared its recent cover. What do you think?

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