The New Yorker is taking on President Donald Trump after he asked why the U.S. would welcome immigrants from “shithole” places like Haiti and African countries during a bipartisan Oval Office meeting on Thursday.
“In the Hole,” by artist Anthony Russo, responds to the president’s comment, which has been decried as racist by the United Nations, with a stark illustration for the magazine’s cover in its Jan. 22 issue.
On a field of white, the president’s yellowish sweep of hair is just visible from the depths of a black hole:
On Thursday, Trump sparked widespread criticism after he reportedly questioned why the U.S. should restore protections for immigrants from Haiti and parts of Africa.
“Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?” the president said, sources told The Washington Post. “We should have more people from places like Norway,” he added.
The New York Times, NBC News, BuzzFeed and CNN confirmed reports of the comment. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) went on record to say he was in the room when it was made.
“He said these hate-filled things and he said them repeatedly,” Durbin said.
The White House did not deny the president’s phrasing in a statement issued Thursday. Trump strongly denied the derogatory remark against Haiti over Twitter the next day, but neither he nor the White House mentioned his attitude toward African nations.
Lawmakers were in the Oval Office to discuss a plan to help “Dreamers,” the undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children who are nicknamed after the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program that protected them from deportation.
Trump ended DACA in September, but has said he wants to help Dreamers in exchange for progress on his proposed border wall.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article misspelled Russo’s last name and misidentified Russo as the artist behind a New Yorker cover depicting James Comey being dragged off a plane by Jeff Sessions, which was illustrated by Barry Blitt.