U.S. President Donald Trump again argued that the anti-government protests that began in France and are spreading across Europe stem from immigration, not education.
Speaking to reporters at the White House on the 19th, Trump said the protests were "not a school problem, it's an immigration problem," adding that European governments "let people in who don't love their country, don't love their buildings, don't love their art."
Trump said that when he first met French President Emmanuel Macron, he told him: "You're making a big mistake in France. You're letting people in from all over the world. Paris is going to be a Muslim city very soon." He said he also told Macron to "close your borders, or you're going to ruin your country."
"They ruined their country. It's going to be hard to come back, but I hope France comes back," Trump said.
Trump said he had urged not only Macron but also Russian President Vladimir Putin and other European leaders to close their borders. "You know who agreed with me? Some leaders you don't like," he said.
"You can see it by looking at the situation in Italy and France. This has to do with immigration, and I told them this was going to happen," he said. He compared the current situation in Europe to "a boiler about to explode."
As anti-government protests have intensified in France and elsewhere in Europe, Trump has consistently pointed to the acceptance of immigrants as the cause and stressed the need for border controls.
In France, student protests over poor school conditions that began on the 17th grew into demonstrations against underinvestment in the public sector and high prices. After some protests turned violent, with arson and looting, Trump wrote on Truth Social the following day, the 18th, that "France is burning" and that "immigrants from a totally different world, with hate in their hearts, have torn apart a once-great country."
On the 6th, Trump had also described the French anti-government protests on Truth Social as "massive, out-of-control immigration" and a case of "Islam trying to take over a once-great country."