President Trump has escalated his xenophobic rhetoric and anti-immigration policies in recent weeks, with immigrants from Somalia emerging as his largest target. On Tuesday, Trump used a meeting of his cabinet to go on an anti-Somali rant that was shockingly racist even by his standards.

Trump’s racist rant against Somalis in the United States

As The New York Times reported, during a televised meeting in which Trump sometimes dozed off while listening to comments and effusive praise from his cabinet, the president again attacked Somali immigrants in an unusually racist rant.

“Somalians ripped off that state for billions of dollars. Billions. Every year. And they contribute nothing. The welfare is like 88%. They contribute nothing,” Trump said, without citing evidence for his questionable statistics and exaggerated claims.

“I don’t want them in our country, I’ll be honest with you.” Seeming to acknowledge the offensive nature of his comments, Trump preemptively dismissed critics of his words. “Oh, that’s not politically correct.’ I don’t care.” As the president continued, his rhetoric ramped up the racism of his words. “Their country is no good for a reason. Their country stinks, and we don’t want them in our country. I can say that about other countries, too.”

Saying that the United States “is at a tipping point,” Trump proclaimed that the country is “gonna go the wrong way if we keep taking in garbage into our country.” During his rant, Trump again targeted Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, herself an immigrant from Somalia. “Ilhan Omar is garbage. She’s garbage. Her friends are garbage,” the president raged.

Trump concluded his rant by returning to the demonization of the larger Somali community and reiterated his exclusionary policy agenda. “They come from hell, and they complain and do nothing but bitch. We don’t want them in our country. Let ’em go back to where they came from and fix it.”

Trump’s racist and xenophobic policies

Trump’s racist rant and suggestion to send Somali immigrants “back to where they came from” comes as the president expands his anti-immigration agenda. In the wake of the shooting of two National Guard members, allegedly by a man granted asylum from Afghanistan, Trump has announced a “permanent pause” in immigration from “third-world countries.”

This freeze in immigration is in addition to the current version of his travel ban, which eliminated immigration from a dozen countries and restricted immigration from several more; the administration is pursuing an expansion of the ban. And Trump continues to utilize Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol Enforcement to crack down on unauthorized immigrants and even harass people legally in the United States; the administration is planning immigration enforcement activities aimed at the Somali population of Minnesota.

Trump has a long history of pushing xenophobic and anti-immigration rhetoric, and his policies have often targeted African countries, including Somalia. During his first term, Trump infamously referred to African nations as “s***hole countries.” Beyond his rhetoric, Trump’s policies, such as various travel bans, have largely targeted countries that are majority-Black or majority-Muslim; 99% of Somalia’s population is Black and Muslim, and the country has been listed on each of Trump’s travel bans. Trump and other Republicans have also regularly attacked Rep. Omar, either individually or as part of the Squad of progressive lawmakers, mostly women of color, in the House of Representatives.

This latest attack against Omar and the Somali community was especially crude and racist, but it fits with the general direction of his xenophobic policies. As Trump continues to demonize immigrant communities and uses the power of the federal government against them, we can expect him to continue trotting out racist tropes to justify his actions.