There are only three Latinos in the U.S. Senate, and the most senior of them all took Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump to task for remarks against ethnic minorities.

Menendez: Trump's Remarks Are "Downright Dangerous"

On late Tuesday morning, Menendez addressed the U.S. Senate, acknowledging his status as the senior Latino in the legislative chamber, and spoke about the dark path Trump and the Republican Party is heading. According to Menendez, Trump is leading the U.S. towards a dangerous place as a result of racist rants. He also compared Trump to tyrants and dictators who have used discrimination towards ethnic and religious minorities to increase their power.

Speaking about Trump's comments about Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who's presiding the alleged Trump University fraud case and the businessman accused him of being impartial due to being "Mexican" -- when in fact he was born in Indiana from Mexican parents -- Menendez said Trump's remarks are an attack on the country's independent judiciary.

Menendez said lashing out simply because someone isn't getting their preferred way, "as Donald Trump seems to do often," is "remarkably childish, thin-skinned, surprisingly egocentric."

"Apparently, in Mr. Trump's mind, if he loses, it must be someone else's fault. It's him! It's them! It's those people! He isn't American! He doesn't have a birth certificate! He's a Muslim! It's all of them. He's a Mexican judge and I want to build a wall, so he's being unfair to me! "That attitude may be childish and pathetic in a schoolyard bully, but in an American president, in a commander in chief, it's downright dangerous."

The New Jersey Democrat is his fellow policymakers have not gone far enough to distance themselves away from Trump's comments.

"Many of my colleagues must recognize - as do I -- that a federal judge born in Indiana with a Mexican family background is not a Mexican judge but an American judge -- just as a United States senator like this one, raised in New Jersey with a Cuban family background, is a United States senator," Menendez said. "And to imply otherwise -- to ask that Judge Curiel recuse himself from a case because of where his parents were born -- is, on its face, racist."

The Democrat is that anyone who does not stand up against intolerance and hatred would only encourage such bigotry, which would divide the country.

"Today we are all Judge Gonzalo Curiel, and today we stand together as one nation, indivisible, no matter how hard someone tries to divide us. I repeat: The road to some of the darkest moments in history have been paved with the rants of petty demagogues against ethnic minorities for centuries, and Donald Trump is echoing those same racist rants, threatening to take this nation to a dangerous place. Let's, all of us, speak out before it's too late."

Trump Backing Away from Curiel Remarks?

By late afternoon, Trump issued a statement further clarifying his remarks about Curiel. He acknowledged that he has friends and employees that are either Mexican or of Hispanic descent.

"It is unfortunate that my comments have been misconstrued as a categorical attack against people of Mexican heritage," Trump said. "I am friends with and employ thousands of people of Mexican and Hispanic descent. The American justice system relies on fair and impartial judges. All judges should be held to that standard. I do not feel that one's heritage makes them incapable of being impartial, but, based on the rulings that I have received in the Trump University civil case, I feel justified in questioning whether I am receiving a fair trial."

Trump continued question Curiel's impartiality due to the judge's association with specific organizations. He concluded that he intends not to comment further on the matter and believes he'll win the case.

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For the latest updates, follow Latin Post's Michael Oleaga on Twitter: @EditorMikeO or contact via email: m.oleaga@latinpost.com.

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