President Trump is pointing to France as a warning about border security, arguing that President Emmanuel Macron made a major mistake by refusing to follow America's tougher approach. His warning comes as France reels from violent unrest, with more than 2,400 arrests reported and protesters forcing their way into Marseille's city hall.
"I told [Macron], CLOSE YOUR BORDERS!"
The numbers behind the remark are the worst French disorder in years. At least 2,400 people have been arrested across the country, the 19th-century city hall in Limoges was set ablaze and its roof collapsed, at least 3,000 businesses were damaged or looted, and tonight Paris, Lyon, Nice and other cities are under curfews ordered after a weekend the government could not control — with Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu holding a state of emergency in reserve and Macron refusing his interior minister's resignation. French markets delivered their own verdict on Monday: Paris stocks closed down 1.1% and France's 10-year borrowing cost jumped back to about 4.9%.
Trump's remarks have reignited the debate over immigration, national identity and public safety. Supporters of tougher border controls say governments must take security seriously, and Trump's side reads France as the proof: a country that would not control who crosses its borders now struggling to control its own streets. The unrest has also been fueled by anger over rising living costs and deteriorating public services, and the French government blames organized networks and looters rather than its border policy — but the crisis now gripping France is the backdrop against which Trump's old warning is being heard again.
It is the same argument Trump has run on at home for a decade: that a country which will not control its borders eventually loses control of its streets, and that the bill for open-border policies arrives as disorder, overwhelmed police and governments reaching for curfews and emergency powers. France tonight — curfews in its biggest cities, a state of emergency on the table, markets sliding — is, in his telling, that bill coming due.
Trump says he warned Macron years ago. Now, as France struggles to restore order, his message on border security is back in the spotlight — in his own words: "I told [Macron], CLOSE YOUR BORDERS!"
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