SC’s Jim Clyburn wants Congress to censure Trump over ‘shithole’ comment

South Carolina’s sole Democratic congressman wants Congress to take action after President Donald Trump reportedly said the U.S. should not accept immigrants from “shithole countries.”

U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-Columbia, called Friday on CNN for Congress to censure the president.

A censure wouldn’t impose any penalties on Trump but would express Congress’s formal disapproval of the comments.

“Let’s not be quiet and pretend we didn’t hear it, that we don’t recall it,” Clyburn told Wolf Blitzer, an apparent reference to U.S. Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., who said he did not recall hearing the comments during the meeting between lawmakers and the president.

The remarks came as a bipartisan group of lawmakers presented Trump with a plan for immigration reform, including a permanent fix to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program for young immigrants brought into the country as children.

Trump reportedly surprised the lawmakers by saying the U.S. should not accept more immigrants from Haiti and “shithole countries” in Africa. Trump also said the United States should accept more immigrants from countries like Norway, whose prime minister he met with this week.

Clyburn also called for the DACA issue to be removed from ongoing debates about a funding measure that must pass by Jan. 19 to avoid a government shutdown.

Otherwise, Clyburn said Trump only will use the process to “stick it to DACA recipients, to backhand ‘Dreamers.’ ”

This story was originally published January 12, 2018 at 2:30 PM with the headline "SC’s Jim Clyburn wants Congress to censure Trump over ‘shithole’ comment."