The following article by Julie Hirschfeld Davis was posted on the New York Times website August 20, 2018:
President Trump made the remark during a White House event honoring employees of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection. Image by Gabriella Demczuk for The New York Times
WASHINGTON — It was supposed to be a White House salute to the heroism of immigration agents who put their lives on the line to protect Americans. But on Monday, President Trump appeared to have something else on his mind: the ethnicity of one of the men he was honoring.
“Speaks perfect English,” Mr. Trump blurted out as he encouraged Adrian Anzaldua, a Hispanic-American Border Patrol agent and dog handler from Texas, to join him onstage in the East Room. Mr. Anzaldua recently arrested a smuggler in Laredo who had tried to bring 78 people into the United States illegally inside a truck trailer.
“Come here. I want to ask you about that — 78 lives,” Mr. Trump said, putting Mr. Anzaldua on the spot. “You saved 78 people. So how did you feel, that there were people in that trailer?”