--- title: Donald Trump Says Undocumented Immigrants 'Infest' U.S. description: Twitter users reacted strongly to President Donald Trump's use of the word "infest" to describe illegal immigration. canonical: https://time.com/5316087/donald-trump-immigration-infest/ author: Abigail Simon article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-06-19T15:56:48.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T20:37:01.260Z article:section: Politics og:title: People Are Angry Used This Word to Describe Undocumented Immigrants og:description: Critics of Trump's language argued that it was dehumanizing. og:url: https://time.com/5316087/donald-trump-immigration-infest/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc4861fc9db005b51/6989335a22fb859424e25f17/gettyimages-977911726.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: President Trump Meets With The National Space Council At The White House og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: People Are Angry Used This Word to Describe Undocumented Immigrants twitter:description: Critics of Trump's language argued that it was dehumanizing. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc4861fc9db005b51/6989335a22fb859424e25f17/gettyimages-977911726.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # People Are Angry President Trump Used This Word to Describe Undocumented Immigrants by [Abigail Simon](https://time.com/author/abigail-simon/) ## Abigail Simon Jun 19, 2018 3:56 PM UTC  President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on June 18, 2018. President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on June 18, 2018.Andrew Harrer—Bloomberg/Getty Images by [Abigail Simon](https://time.com/author/abigail-simon/) ## Abigail Simon Jun 19, 2018 3:56 PM UTC Twitter users reacted strongly to President Donald Trump’s use of the word “infest” to describe illegal immigration. Responding to criticism of a policy that has led to more than 2,000 children being separated from their parents at the border, Trump [tweeted](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1009071403918864385) that Democrats were to blame. “They don’t care about crime and want illegal immigrants, no matter how bad they may be, to pour into and infest our country, like MS-13,” he wrote, referencing a violent criminal gang based in Central America. Critics of Trump’s language argued that it was dehumanizing to use a term traditionally used for pests. > [](https://twitter.com/ChrisMegerian/status/1009072619805724672) > [](https://twitter.com/chrislhayes/status/1009072042153349121) > [](https://twitter.com/maggieNYT/status/1009077926434889728) > [](https://twitter.com/brianklaas/status/1009073783360061440) > [](https://twitter.com/Rowaida%5FAbdel/status/1009073661410791429) Other Twitter users went even further, comparing it to language used during genocides. > [](https://twitter.com/AnandWrites/status/1009085498801971205) > [](https://twitter.com/BillKristol/status/1009081534341636097) > [](https://twitter.com/ShaunKing/status/1009074372508815367) > [](https://twitter.com/DGisSERIOUS/status/1009075348968001536) > [](https://twitter.com/EricBoehlert/status/1009076649256718338) > [](https://twitter.com/rob%5Fsheridan/status/1009073972594348032) The controversy happened about a month after Trump used the word “animals” while criticizing California’s immigration approach. After facing public scrutiny for his language, Trump tweeted that he was referring specifically to MS-13 gang members, “a big difference.” > [](https://twitter.com/jonfavs/status/1009072226987958273) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5316087/donald-trump-immigration-infest/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5316087/donald-trump-immigration-infest/"},"headline":"People Are Angry President Trump Used This Word to Describe Undocumented Immigrants","datePublished":"2018-06-19T15:56:48.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T20:37:01.260Z","description":"Twitter users reacted strongly to President Donald Trump's use of the word \"infest\" to describe illegal immigration.","url":"https://time.com/5316087/donald-trump-immigration-infest/","keywords":["Donald Trump","Social Media","twitter","Immigration","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc4861fc9db005b51/6989335a22fb859424e25f17/gettyimages-977911726.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Abigail Simon","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/abigail-simon/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc4861fc9db005b51/6989335a22fb859424e25f17/gettyimages-977911726.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Trump Meets With The National Space Council At The White House","caption":"President Trump Meets With The National Space Council At The White House","creditText":"Andrew Harrer—Bloomberg/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5316087/donald-trump-immigration-infest/","name":"People Are Angry President Trump Used This Word to Describe Undocumented Immigrants"}}]}] ```