New Delhi: US President Donald Trump has claimed that he had warned French President Emmanuel Macron about the “big mistake” he was making on immigration, suggesting that his policies had led to the recent violent protests in France.
“Emmanuel, look, he’s a friend of mine. I told him a long time ago you’re making a big mistake in France. You’re letting everybody from the world come in… Paris is going to be a Muslim city very soon,” Trump told reporters outside the White House on Monday. “I told Emmanuel you should close up your borders.”
Later that day, at a campaign rally in Park City, Kansas, in support of Republican Senator Roger Marshall ahead of the November midterm elections, Trump again attacked immigration policies in Europe and vowed not to let a similar situation arise in the US.
“Globalist left wing politicians have treasonously imported millions and millions of Third World migrants who are totally incompatible with the West… They despise everything about France, and they’re destroying that country, and we’re not going to let that happen to this country,” he said, as the crowd chanted “USA! USA!”
The protests began on 17 September in Créteil, a suburb of Paris, over teacher shortages and deteriorating school facilities, but soon grew into a greater outburst of anger against the rising cost of living and government spending cuts.
While most of the protests were peaceful, violence broke out in several cities over the weekend of 17 and 18 October. Rioters clashed with police, looted shops and set public buildings on fire, including the historic town hall in Limoges. Nearly 2,500 people were arrested, and authorities imposed curfews in parts of Paris and other cities.
Also Read: Indian-origin US Congressman’s office evacuated after suspicious mail
‘Migrants, Jihadists and communists’
With the November midterm elections around the corner, Republicans in the US are holding up the violence in France as a warning of what could happen in America if immigration is left unchecked.
Vice President JD Vance blamed the unrest on European immigration policies.
“We told them it would end like this, and they didn’t listen,” he said in a post on X on Saturday, complete with visuals of a burning building in France. He added that Democrats wanted the same future for America.
Western liberals imported the third world into France and other countries in the name of diversity and compassion. They ignored fundamental questions of assimilation and compatibility. They were told it would lead to this and they didn't listen.
I pray that France, a beautiful… https://t.co/y39o3JGlWh
— JD Vance (@JDVance) October 18, 2026
House Speaker Mike Johnson also blamed France’s riots on “open borders” and warned that the US could face similar violence if Democrats returned to power.
The White House shared a Trum truth Social post as well on the issue, with visuals of rioters and the caption, “this is what we’re fighting to prevent”.
Pay attention before it's too late.
This is the future Democrats want for America – this is what we're fighting to prevent. pic.twitter.com/KY9qsrUM8C
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) October 19, 2026
At the Kansas rally, Trump described France as a once-great nation being “conquered, looted, and burned to the ground by migrants, jihadists and communists who hate Christianity”.
“If you want to see what is at stake in this election, just look at what’s happening in France,” he said.
The violence has also fuelled anti-immigrant rhetoric in France and elsewhere in Europe, with far-right politicians blaming migrants and Muslims for the unrest. Kirill Dmitriev, an aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, reportedly called it “Western civilisation’s suicide through migrant chaos”.
In a TV address on Sunday, Macron condemned the rioting and blamed “criminals” and “insurrectionist elements from the radical far left”.
Protests, meanwhile, are also continuing in countries such as Portugal, Spain, Italy and Belgium over different issues such as the rising cost of living and poor public services.
(Edited by Asavari Singh)