President Trump is blaming the riots in France on immigration, saying he warned French President Emmanuel Macron years ago to close his borders. In a series of video remarks, Trump said Paris will soon be a Muslim city and that Macron made a 'big mistake' by allowing people from all over the world to enter France.
'Paris Is Going to Be a Muslim City Very Soon'
'I told him a long time ago, you make it a big mistake in France. You're letting everybody from the world come in. The whole world was coming in. As you know, Paris is going to be a Muslim city very soon. And that wasn't the deal. That wasn't the deal,' Trump said in one clip.
Trump said he told Macron to close French borders as soon as he met him, roughly eight or nine years ago. 'I told the man you should close up your borders... We closed our borders. He did. And you know what? His borders are a problem,' Trump said, adding that Macron also has 'a little bit of a problem with energy.'
'It's Immigration, Not Schools'
In a second video, Trump directly tied the unrest to immigration, dismissing other explanations. 'Well, the France thing is a very sad situation. What's happening in France? Because what's happening in France has to do with immigration, not schools, not anything. It's immigration,' he said.
'I told President Macron, close up your borders. I told him the first time I met him, which was years ago in my first term, close up your borders. You're going to have nothing but trouble. And they've got a lot of trouble,' Trump continued. 'They let people into their country. They don't love their country. They don't love their buildings. They don't love their art.'
'They've Got Themselves a Riot'
Trump expanded on his criticism, saying immigrants in France have no affection for the nation. 'These are people that come in as an example in France who are so bad, they don't love the country, they don't love their art, they don't love their buildings, they don't love their people, and they've got themselves arrived,' he said, appearing to mean a riot.
'This is about school, this is about immigration, and these are people that are coming and taking over the country, and they made a mistake,' Trump said. He also claimed he warned other leaders, including Putin, about border security.
Trump contrasted the situation in France with his own immigration policies. 'We have closed borders, nobody comes in, and we're getting all the people out, all the people that came in illegally, they're coming out,' he said. 'What happened is they let people in, they didn't get them out, and they came in by the millions, and honestly, they're different countries than they were 10 years ago.'
Trump concluded that France may struggle to recover. 'I said, you've got to close up your borders. You're going to ruin your country. And they've ruined their country. It's going to be hard to get it back. But hopefully, France will come back,' he said.
