Trump defends 'animals' remark, says will continue to use it

US President Donald Trump today defended his use of the controversial word "animals" to describe some illegal immigrants, asserting that he will continue to use it for members of the deadly transnational gang MS-13 despite facing flak from the Democratic leaders.

Trump clarified that he had used the term "animals" to refer to the members of the MS-13 gang, an international criminal gang that originated in the US in the 1980s and later spread to Canada, Mexico and Central America.

Most of its members are of Central American origin, principally El Salvador.

"MS-13, these are animals coming onto our country. 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 told reporters at the White House.

"We are getting them out by the thousands. But it's a big, dangerous job. And they're able, in some cases, to come back in or new groups come in also from the gangs," he said.

Trump made the controversial remark yesterday during a roundtable with law enforcement officials from California.

"We have people coming into the country, or trying to come in - and we're stopping a lot of them - but we're taking people out of the country. You wouldn't believe how bad these people are. These aren't people. These are animals," Trump said, triggering a torrent of condemnation from the lawmakers.

"When all of our great-great-grandparents came to America they weren't 'animals,' and these people aren't either," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer tweeted.

"Every day that you think you've seen it all, along comes another manifestation of why their policies are so inhumane," House Minority leader Nancy Pelosi said.

Mexico's foreign ministry sent a formal diplomatic letter to the US State Department complaining that Trump's remarks were "absolutely unacceptable."