The Latest: Trump defends ‘animals’ comment in tweet

WASHINGTON – The Latest on President Donald Trump and immigration (all times local):

6:55 a.m.

President Donald Trump is tweeting that he only used the word “animals” to describe immigrants who are gang members.

Trump has been under fire for comments he made Wednesday while railing against California for its immigration policies. Trump was speaking at a roundtable with local California officials when he responded to a comment that had referenced MS-13.

Trump had said: “We have people coming into the country, or trying to come in — and we’re stopping a lot of them … You wouldn’t believe how bad these people are. These aren’t people. These are animals.”

On Friday, he tweeted: “I referred to MS 13 Gang Members as ‘Animals,’ a big difference – and so true. Fake News got it purposely wrong, as usual!”

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12:17 a.m.

President Donald Trump is defending his use of the word “animals” to describe some immigrants who enter the country illegally and says he will keep using that term to refer to violent gang members.

On Thursday, Trump said his comment a day earlier had clearly been directed at members of the MS-13 gang.

Trump says, “When the MS-13 comes in, when the other gang members come into our country, I refer to them as animals. And guess what? I always will.”

Trump has been under fire for comments he made Wednesday while railing against California for its sanctuary immigration policies. Trump was speaking at a roundtable with local California officials when he responded to a comment that referenced MS-13.

Democratic lawmakers criticized the president for using that term toward immigrants.