'Hate speech targeting children': Trump ripped for saying migrant kids 'poisoning' schools

USA Today columnist Sara Pequeño has found herself particularly appalled by former President Donald Trump's recent attacks on children.

In her latest column, Pequeño singled out statements made by Trump about transgender children and migrant children during a recent talk he had with the right-wing Moms for Liberty organization that has made a name for itself in recent years by leading the charge to get books banned from public schools.

In one part of his talk, Trump made a baffling assertion that schools were essentially creating transgender students by forcing children to undergo gender reassignment surgery without even obtaining parents' permission.

"Think of it, your kid goes to school and comes home a few days later with an operation," Trump said.

"I can’t believe it has to be said: No one is performing gender-affirming surgery at school," Pequeño wrote. "To suggest that is ridiculous."

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Perhaps even more egregious were Trump's attacks on migrant children, who he accused of causing "suffering" to American children, according to the columnist.

“Our country is being poisoned,” Trump said. “And your schools and your children are suffering greatly because they’re going into the classrooms, they’re taking the seats and they don’t even speak English.”

All of this was too much for Pequeño to stomach.

"Just a reminder: He’s talking about children who have no choice in whether they come to this country," she wrote. "It’s cruel and unnecessary, and I find it shameful that Republicans ignore his rants like this."

Read the full column here.