House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is defending violent MS-13 gang members after President Trump referred to them as “animals” during a meeting at the White House Wednesday with mayors, sheriffs and other leaders who oppose sanctuary policies.

Trump was speaking with a roundtable of California officials when he made the remarks, and Pelosi and other Democratic leaders are working to conflate the comments to include all illegal immigrants.

“He have people coming into the country, or trying to come in – and we’re stopping a lot of them,” Trump said, according to the Associated Press. “You wouldn’t believe how bad these people are. These aren’t people. These are animals.”

Trump was referring to folks like Miguel Angel Lopez-Abrego, one of several illegal immigrant MS-13 gang members accused of luring a Washington, D.C. man into a park last year, when they allegedly stabbed him more than 100 times, cut off his head and carved out his heart, the Independent reports.

MS-13 gang members in the country illegally from places like El Salvador and Mexico have committed similar high-profile and equally brutal murders in most major cities across the United States.

Just last week, U.S. Border Patrol agents in Texas apprehended MS-13 members with previous convictions for sexual assault of a child and other crimes who tried to sneak around immigration checkpoints, according to Breitbart.

Regardless, Pelosi and other Democrats are working to conflate Trump’s comments about the ruthless transnational gang with all illegal immigrants, arguing that the president’s remarks are “inhumane” and the “divine spark” of the cold-blooded killers deserves more respect.

“’These aren’t people, these are animals,’” Pelosi said, quoting the president. “You have to wonder, does he not believe in the spark of divinity – the dignity and worth of every person? ‘These are not people, these are animals’ – the president of the United States.

“Every day that you think that you’ve seen it all, along comes another manifestation of why their policies are so inhumane and why we have to continue the debate …”

“Calling people animals is not a good thing,” Pelosi said.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer also jumped on the bandwagon.

“When all of your great-great-grandparents came to America they weren’t ‘animals,’ and these people aren’t either,” he insisted on Twitter.

Trump, meanwhile, is defending his comments at the meeting, where he said California’s sanctuary laws are forcing “the release of illegal immigrant criminals, drug dealers, gang members and violent predators into your communities,” which provides a “safe harbor to some of the most vicious and violent offenders on earth,” the AP reports.

At a meeting with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, Trump doubled down when questioned about the “animals” comment by a reporter.

“MS-13, these are animals coming into our country,” he said. “When the MS-13 comes in, when the other gang members come into our country, I refer to them as animals. And guess what? I always will.”

The president’s spokeswoman, Sarah Sanders, argued the “animals” moniker doesn’t go far enough to describe the heartless murderers and rapists who belong to the transnational gang.

“This is one of the most vicious and deadly gangs that operates by the motto of, ‘Rape, control and kill,’” she said. “If the media and liberals want to defend MS-13, they’re more than welcome to. Frankly, I don’t think the term that the president used was strong enough.”

Others on Twitter pointed out the irony of Pelosi and other Democrats defending the “divine spark” of gang members, while ignoring the murder of unborn babies at abortion clinics.

“OK Nancy, now do unborn babies,” Skred The Rogue posted.

“Apparently, the spark of divinity only applies to grown, murderous raping adults but not innocent unborn children,” Carolinafan53186 added.