Donald Trump's characterization of Mexicans who come to the United States as drug-runners, rapists and criminals has incensed those in the border nation and provided a "rare unity" in "a country fraught with divisions over how to create the jobs and security necessary to make mass migration unnecessary,"
The Guardian reports.
"If you offend us we come together, and what he said was very offensive. He has no respect for human beings," said Mexico City resident Rita Hernández.
"We have a lot of problems in our country and they hurt us a lot, but the migrants who go to the U.S. are hard-working people looking for a way to support their families, and when American tourists come here, we treat them with warmth."
During his June 16 announcement that he was running for president, Trump said that "when Mexico sends its people, they're not sending the best. They're bringing drugs, they're bringing crime. They're rapists and some, I assume, are good people."
He said the U.S. was a "dumping ground for everybody else's problems."
The comments became a viral sensation and led to several companies severing ties with the real estate mogul, including Macy's, where he had a line of menswear, and NBC, which aired Trump's Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants, as well as the Spanish language network Univision.
The controversy has spawned Trump piñatas in Mexico, one donned in a suit and tie with Trump's signature hairstyle and a large mouth, another with the billionaire wearing a crown and pageant sash emblazoned "Miss Stupid,"
according to ABC News.
Piñata maker Dalton Avalos Ramirez told The Associated Press that he designed the piñata "because of the hatred Trump expressed for the Mexican people" and that "people want to burn the piñatas, they want to break them."
The Guardian reported that during a recent awards ceremony in Los Angeles, comedian and filmmaker Eugenio Derbez warned Trump that his words could come back to bite him.
"You are wrong, Mr Trump. We are honest and hard-working people," he said. "We are also waiters and cooks in all the restaurants of the United States. So take care the next time you eat at a restaurant, because it is possible that you might have to eat your words … and something else."
Mauro Tlatengo, who lived in the U.S. for 10 years and worked picking grapes, tending golf courses and doing construction, said Trump is "a crazy idiot who we can't do anything about … but we can laugh at him."
Trump is "unrepentant" and "lapping up the publicity," according to The Guardian, which notes that the real estate mogul has surged in the polls.
"The crime is raging, it's raging, and it's violent," Trump said. "And if you talk about it, you're a racist. I don't understand it."
"It seems I am a whipping post for bringing it up."
Trump maintains that he has a good relationship with Latinos.
Last month he told
CNN that he does "great with Latino voters. I employ so many Latinos, I have so many people working for me. The Latinos love Trump, and I Iove them."
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