Donald Trump has slammed the federal judge overseeing civil fraud lawsuits against Trump University as having "an absolute conflict" presiding over the litigation because he is "of Mexican heritage." Only it turns out, the judge might be even more American than Trump is — at least if you measure by the years their families have lived in the country.
U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel was born in Indiana, the son of a Mexican immigrants. Curiel's father, however, arrived in the U.S. in the 1920s and went on to become a citizen and a steelworker, Talking Points Memo reports. Trump's mother, Mary Anne MacLeod, arrived in the United States from Scotland in 1930 — and didn't become a U.S. citizen until 1942.
It all just goes to show, the next time Trump wants to "insult" someone, he might want to do his homework first.
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Correction June 6: This article originally stated that Judge Curiel's father emigrated from El Salvador. He in fact emigrated from Mexico. We regret the error.
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