Ceuta latest: Trump lashes out over migrant ‘catastrophe’ as 60,000 cross into Spanish enclave
Donald Trump has criticised the “catastrophe” in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, which has been dealing with the mass influx of 60,000 migrants from Morocco.
The US president told a cabinet meeting: “I saw Spain yesterday, and I watched the catastrophe that took place. It looks like an invasion of a country.
“Hundreds of thousands of people. And that same thing’s going to happen to us if the Republicans don’t get elected, except worse, much bigger, much easier to get into.”
His comments echo others made by senior US officials, with the US department of state placing the blame on the socialist administration of Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez.
“This unacceptable incident is the direct result of the Spanish Government’s deliberate efforts to enable and facilitate mass illegal migration into Europe,” they said.
Meanwhile, Italy is suspending the EU’s border-free Schengen arrangements with Spain, and has agreed to strengthen controls along the Franco-Italian land border to try to prevent any undocumented migrants from crossing.
Thousands of migrants have made the journey in the past few days, with Spanish troops deployed to battle the growing crisis on the border.
At least 57 people died while attempting to cross.
Ceuta, along with Melilla, another Spanish autonomous city in northern Morocco, represents the European Union’s only land border with Africa.
