‘Paris will be Muslim city very soon’: Trump links France unrest to immigration

US President Donald Trump on Monday again blamed immigration for protests and violence in France, urging European countries and French President Emmanuel Macron to tighten border controls.

“What’s happening in France has to do with immigration, not schools, not anything,” Trump told reporters in Washington, repeating remarks he made a day earlier. “It’s immigration, and I told President Emmanuel Macron, close up your borders.”

Demonstrations over rising prices took place in Paris and other French cities over the weekend, escalating into some of the worst street violence the country has experienced in recent years.

Trump recounted a conversation with Macron, saying he had warned the French president “a long time ago” that allowing people from across the world to enter France was a mistake.

“You’re letting everybody from the world come in. The whole world was coming in,” Trump recalled telling Macron.

“Paris is going to be a Muslim city very soon,” added the 80-year-old Republican.

“If Europe doesn’t close its borders and bring the criminals out, like the people that are protesting, Europe is finished,” Trump said.

Trump made combating illegal immigration a central pledge of his 2024 presidential campaign, at times using claims that were false and played on racial fears.