Trump denies 's***hole countries' remark

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump tweeted a denial yesterday after he was quoted as describing African and other states as "s***hole countries", amid an international furore over the remarks.

Trump, who reportedly made the comment during a meeting with legislators on Thursday on immigration reform, drew charges of racism and a complaint from the southern African republic of Botswana.

"Why are we having all these people from s***hole countries come here?" Trump said, people briefed on the meeting told The Washington Post.

The New York Times later reported the same comment, citing unnamed people with direct knowledge of the meeting.

"The language used by me at the Daca meeting was tough, but this was not the language used," Trump tweeted early yesterday.

The reference was to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca) programme, which shields from deportation nearly 800,000 immigrants brought to the country illegally as children.

Thursday's meeting was to discuss a compromise under which Daca would be preserved but a visa lottery and a policy allowing legal immigrants to bring family members into the country would be ended.

"I want a merit based system of immigration and people who will help take our country to the next level," Trump said in another tweet. "I want safety and security for our people," he added, criticising the proposed bipartisan deal.

"USA would be forced to take large numbers of people from high crime countries which are doing badly," Trump tweeted.

The Post and the Times said Trump's vulgar remark on Thursday was in reference to African countries and Haiti. The Post included El Salvador on its list.