Miller, Trump cite Spain migrant surge as warning on Democrats

White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller warned that Democrats would welcome a border collapse like the one unfolding in Spain’s North African territory of Ceuta if they retake power in Washington, as tens of thousands of migrants poured across the Moroccan border this week in one of the largest such surges the enclave has seen. “The Democrats did this to America every single day for 4 years under Biden and will do it again instantaneously, but orders of magnitude greater, if they are given any form of national power,” Mr. Miller wrote on social media. President Trump echoed the warning in a Friday interview with Fox News, pointing to images from Ceuta and telling correspondent Jacqui Heinrich, “That’s going to be us in three years if the wrong side gets in.” He added that Americans “will not live a very good life” under a future Democratic administration, according to an account of the interview. Ceuta’s regional president, Juan Jesus Vivas, said Friday that about 60,000 migrants had entered the territory from Morocco over the previous 24 hours — equal to roughly 70% of the city’s population. Spain’s Interior Ministry offered a more conservative estimate of about 50,000 crossings and said roughly half of those who entered had since voluntarily returned to Morocco. At least 41 migrants died attempting the crossing, many by drowning or in a stampede at a breakwater fence near the Tarajal border crossing, according to Rachid Sbihi, who leads a local association representing Civil Guard officers. The scale of the surge dwarfs what Ceuta had been experiencing earlier in the month, when regional officials said between 1,500 and 2,000 migrants had entered over the preceding 10 days, and far exceeds the roughly 8,000 arrivals over two days that Spain called a national crisis in May 2021. Spain deployed additional troops and police after Mr. Vivas called on Madrid to declare a national emergency and reinforce the border “to guarantee the inviolability of the frontier and citizen safety.” Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez visited Ceuta on Friday and called the breach “a violation of Spain’s territorial integrity,” blaming human smugglers who he said “deceive so many young people, and ultimately lead many of them to their deaths.” Spanish officials have linked the surge in part to a Supreme Court ruling this month barring the summary return of migrants intercepted at sea near Ceuta and Melilla, Spain’s other North African territory. Mr. Sanchez said smuggling networks appeared to have spread a distorted version of the ruling that “spread like wildfire… through the networks of human trafficking organizations, triggering the kind of mass surge we witnessed.” Some rights activists in Morocco have voiced skepticism that the ruling drove the crossings, arguing most migrants would have been unaware of the legal decision. A Guardia Civil spokesman told Reuters that arrivals had been “a slow trickle” since the ruling before Thursday’s “explosion.” The crisis has drawn sharp reactions from the European right. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni threatened to suspend her country’s participation in the open-border Schengen area with Spain “to defend our borders and ensure the safety of our citizens,” even though Italy does not share a border with Spain. Alberto Núñez Feijóo, leader of Spain’s conservative opposition, called the situation in Ceuta “desperate” and said the government “cannot look the other way on its obligations.” Mr. Miller has long argued that left-wing immigration policies in the U.S. mirror Europe’s border struggles, pointing to the surge in illegal crossings under Mr. Biden as evidence of what he calls a deliberate Democratic strategy. His comments this week come as Republicans lean heavily on immigration messaging ahead of the midterms. This article was constructed with the assistance of artificial intelligence and published by a member of The Washington Times' AI News Desk team. The contents of this report are based solely on The Washington Times' original reporting, wire services, and/or other sources cited within the report. For more information, please read our AI policy or contact Steve Fink, Director of Artificial Intelligence, at sfink@washingtontimes.com The Washington Times AI Ethics Newsroom Committee can be reached at aispotlight@washingtontimes.com.