Len Gengel had spent the week at his orphanage in Haiti and was awaiting a flight to Florida at the Port-au-Prince airport on Friday when his Twitter feed blew up with reaction to the latest outrage from Donald Trump.
The man who has devoted the last seven years of his life to the people of Haiti would learn that the president of the United States derided that country and others as “shithole countries,” and told lawmakers that Haitians should be left out of any immigration deal.
“Why do we need more Haitians?” Trump said, according to people familiar with the meeting. “Take them out.”
As if those comments weren’t bad enough, Gengel learned of them on the eighth anniversary of the earthquake in Haiti that claimed his 19-year-old daughter, Britney. Gengel was headed to Florida to attend a memorial service for Britney at Lynn University, where she went to school.
“It’s a rough day,” Gengel said Friday in a telephone interview. “Then to have Trump say what he said, you just shake your head. I’ve lived and worked with the people of Haiti. I don’t see what Trump sees.”
Thankfully, few people see what Trump sees, and the world has erupted in righteous fury at the latest troubling evidence that our president has more in common with Archie Bunker than his supporters like to admit.
“There is no other word one can use but ‘racist,’ ” said United Nations human rights spokesman Rupert Colville at a briefing in Geneva. “You cannot dismiss entire countries and continents as ‘shitholes,’ whose entire populations, who are not white, are therefore not welcome.”
About 700,000 Haitian immigrants live in the United States and, despite earlier claims by Trump, they don’t all have AIDS. Rather, they’re nurses, teachers, janitors and parents who struggle to make life better for their children. As CNN’s Anderson Cooper so poignantly noted Thursday night, they have withstood more than our president ever has.
Most of us are familiar with Gengel’s heartbreaking and courageous story. Britney went to Haiti in 2010 to work for an aide group; on her second day, she texted her mom that she’d someday like to start an orphanage there. Hours later, the earthquake struck. Vowing that her death wouldn’t be in vain, Len and Cherylann Gengel, along with sons Bernie and Richie, built an orphanage in Grand Goave that houses 66 happy children.
These days, the former Rutland builder travels to Haiti about twice a month. He has also built 100 homes for people in need, using Haitian labor. He employs more than 100 at the orphanage.
“They’re the hardest working people I’ve ever worked with,” said Gengel, who has since moved to South Carolina. “They’re in survival mode. If they don’t work, they don’t eat. That’s what Donald Trump doesn’t get. He’s never been hungry. He’s always had a roof over his head. He went to private schools. What does he know about living on the streets?”
Trump has since denied making the comments, but Trump has been known to lie. By The Washington Post’s count, he has made more than 2,000 false or misleading statements since becoming president, which amounts to more than five lies or distortions a day. While some spineless Republicans at the meeting say they “don’t recall” them, none other than Republican Lindsey Graham all but confirmed that Trump made the comment.
Why is it even in doubt? This is the same man who claimed that Mexico was sending "rapists" and "criminals" across the border and insisted he saw Muslims celebrating in New Jersey when the Twin Towers fell. He peddled the lie that President Barack Obama wasn’t born in the United States. He said there were good people among the neo-Nazis marchers in Charlottesville. He praised and pardoned Joe Arpaio, who violated the rights of suspected illegal immigrants. The list goes on.
Gengel, who has helped secure two full-time scholarships at Becker College for Haitian teenagers, said he was “saddened and disgusted” by Trump’s comments. He said he’d also like to invite Trump to his orphanage to witness “the work ethic and unconditional love” of the Haitian people.
“How are my kids going to feel when going to school in the United States?” Gengel said. “We need to bring all of the American people together and stop this divisiveness, or we will destroy our great country.”
Most Americans rightfully oppose open borders. But Trump’s disgusting comments are an affront to a nation built by the hard work of immigrants, including many from the countries that our president has so carelessly disparaged.
We all know by now who Trump is. The question is, Who are we? And what are we going to do about a man who continues on a near-daily basis to destroy the proud reputation of the United States?