Another day, another controversy surrounding Donald Trump. This time around, Mr. Trump insulted Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who is presiding over two class-action suits against Trump University by calling him “Mexican.”
Donald Trump has picked on his favorite target again: Mexicans. On Thursday, Mr. Trump sat down for a lengthy interview with the Wall Street Journal where he covered many topics.
While talking about the ongoing class-action suits against Trump University, the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party for President of the United States in the 2016 election took the opportunity to make few racist remarks against Judge Gonzalo Curiel, the federal judge presiding over the matter.
It is worth noting that Curiel was born in East Chicago, Indiana to parents, who had immigrated to the United States from Mexico. He graduated from Indiana University in 1976 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree. Here is a brief bio of Curiel, who is a Republican:
“He was an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of California from 1989 to 2002.
He was Chief (1999-2002) of the Narcotics Enforcement Division where he prosecuted the Arellano Felix cartel in Tijuana, Mexico, and was reportedly the subject of an assassination plot connected to the drug cartel. He was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Central District of California from 2002 to 2006. On November 1, 2006, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced the appointment of Curiel to the bench of the Superior Court of San Diego in 2007.”
Trump told the publication that Curiel can not be trusted to make American values a priority because people with “Mexican heritage” can’t be trusted to put American values first. The reporter, who interviewed the businessman, wrote:
“Mr. Trump said U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel had “an absolute conflict” in presiding over the litigation given that he was “of Mexican heritage” and a member of a Latino lawyers’ association. Mr. Trump said the background of the judge, who was born in Indiana to Mexican immigrants, was relevant because of his campaign stance against illegal immigration and his pledge to seal the southern U.S. border. “I’m building a wall. It’s an inherent conflict of interest,” Mr. Trump said.”
Indeed, when the businessman announced his candidacy in June 2015, he attacked illegal immigration and slammed Mexicans by saying:
“They’re sending people that have a lot of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”
Several high-profile Latinos have stepped out to hit back at Trump for criticizing the federal judge. Benny Agosto Jr., the vice president of the Houston Bar Association, revealed:
“The fact is that he is Mexican-American — or American. When you put down an American-born federal judge because his background is Mexican, it shows the lack of character and demeanor of the candidate using that rhetoric.”
Marisa Bono, a staff attorney for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, added:
“It is not clear at all how [the judge’s ethnic background] is relevant to his capacity as a jurist or his capability as a judge. The real underlying problem is the suggestion or inference that this particular judge lacks the capacity or ability to be fair because o his race or ethnicity.”
