#ThatMexicanThing: Twitter anger at Mike Pence over debate comments

Republican vice presidential nominee Mike Pence during the Vice Presidential Debate in Farmville, Virginia, 4 October 2016Getty Images

Mike Pence: "Senator, you've whipped out that Mexican thing again"

Republican Governor Mike Pence has upset some in the Latin American community after he was asked in a live TV debate to defend Donald Trump's comments referring to Mexicans as "rapists" and "criminals".

During a punchy vice-presidential dispute on Tuesday, Mr Pence was challenged to respond after Democratic Senator Tim Kaine argued that such remarks show Mr Trump's true colours.

"Senator, you've whipped out that Mexican thing again," said Mr Pence.

This did not go down well with Latin American viewers.

It escalated quickly with hundreds taking to Twitter to post their distaste at the comment using the hashtag #ThatMexicanThing.

#ThatMexicanThing: How the internet responded

Some of the posts were deliberately mocking of Mr Pence for displaying what was widely considered to be extremely poor judgment in making his remark.

A tweet shows a man about to shoot himself in the footSteve King / @steveking_
A tweet shows Donald Trump's famous cap with the wording altered to display: "Whip out that Mexican Thing"Shoshana Weissmann / @senatorshoshana
A tweet tagged with "That Mexican Thing" shows a photograph of Donald Trump eating some Mexican foodPhilly4Hillary / @Philly4Hillary

Others made a point of highlighting the benefits of immigration in the US with many tweets featuring a sense of pride.

A tweet highlighting the benefits of immigration in the US: "I just got off a night shift, keeping the library open so the next generation of students can succeedAlmendrita Vergara / @lorisdrita
A tweet mentioning the hashtag "That Mexican Thing" refers to immigrants who are lawful and pay their taxesPili Tobar / @pilitobar87
A tweet refers to Mexicans being discriminated against under the hashtag "That Mexican Thing"Juan Altamirano / @altamirajuan
A tweet mentions the contribution made by immigrant workers who do jobs that citizens may choose not to, such as picking fruitMarcus Silva / @MarcusRSilva
A tweet refers to a Mexican in the US who helped his mother cleaning offices at the age of 13Sam / @MostlyAries

Mr Trump has made the fight against illegal immigration one of the main planks of his campaign.

He attempted to improve relations with Mexico by popping across the border for a few hours in a surprise visit in September.

But Mr Trump took the opportunity to defend the building of a wall between the two nations and despite referring to Mexicans as "amazing" and "spectacular", it was made clear that Mr Trump was not welcome.

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