Republicans say Spain's migrant surge foreshadows America in Democrats' hands

Republicans say footage of thousands of migrants illegally entering Spain is a warning of what would happen to America’s border if Democrats regain power. “It’s terrible. Remember that picture. That’s going to be us in three years if the wrong side gets in,” President Trump told a Fox News reporter on Friday of the migrant swarm into Ceuta — a Spanish coastal enclave in North Africa — by land and sea. At a Cabinet meeting, also on Friday, the president called the Ceuta crisis an “invasion,” adding that it will be “a talking point for the midterms” in November. Spain’s interior minister said roughly 50,000 illegal immigrants entered the country in a daylong surge and half returned to Morocco. As of Friday, police reported at least 43 deaths connected to the stampede, which began the day before. “Thank God [President Trump] was elected and our country’s border no longer looks like this,” Vice President J.D. Vance wrote in a social media post about the surge. “These images out of Spain are an unfortunate reminder of the consequences of mass migration and the radical left-wing globalist policies that have enabled the Invasion of the West.” White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller similarly wrote, “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.” The U.S. is no stranger to massive illegal border crossings. In December 2022, during President Biden’s term, about 1,500 migrants crossed from Mexico into El Paso, Texas, in an overnight surge. Such crossings have plummeted during Mr. Trump’s second term. Customs and Border Protection has said that in June, apprehensions at the southwest border “were 94% lower than the monthly average” under Mr. Biden. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, whose socialist government approved a plan expected to grant amnesty to half a million migrants in the country illegally, has characterized the crisis in Ceuta as an attack on Spain’s territory and mobilized national law enforcement. In Congress, Republicans are arguing Spain’s crisis is the result of an open border ideology that also exists in the U.S. “This is what the defund ICE Democrats … see as a model,” wrote Sen. Tom Cotton, Arkansas Republican, in response to one clip of migrants arriving on Spain’s coast. “They see open borders as a tool to import the third world and fundamentally change America,” he said. “Want to know what open borders produce? Look at Spain,” wrote Rep. Ralph Norman, South Carolina Republican running for the Senate, in a social media post. “This is the end result of the left’s agenda, and under President Trump, this will NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN IN THE US!!” Story Topics