Trump cites Ceuta migrant surge to attack Democrats

US President Donald Trump used the migrant surge into Spain’s Ceuta enclave to attack Democrats and warn that a similar crisis could happen in the United States if Republicans are not elected.

“I saw Spain yesterday, and I watched the catastrophe that took place,” Trump told a cabinet meeting at the Camp David retreat in Maryland on Friday. “It looks like an invasion of a country by 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.”

Ceuta is a Spanish territory on the Moroccan coast. News footage showed migrants overwhelming barriers to enter the enclave, and the images aired repeatedly on Fox News and spread through right-wing Trump-allied social media accounts.

The Trump administration also focused on the crisis. The State Department blamed Spain’s government for what it called deliberate efforts to enable and facilitate mass illegal migration into Europe. It said Washington was considering actions to defend Americans at home and abroad and was ready to assist European allies considering similar options, without giving details.

US Vice President JD Vance posted footage of the Ceuta migrant wave and described it as evidence of “radical left-wing globalist policies” that had enabled what he called the “Invasion of the West.” White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller also posted video of the crisis and used it to criticise Democrats.

Several European right-wing politicians also cited the Ceuta surge. Alternative for Germany co-leader Alice Weidel wrote on X that Germany should secure its borders and enforce rejections. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Finland’s populist right-wing ruling coalition called for excluding Spain from Europe’s visa-free zone over the situation.

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis said the Ceuta situation was caused by Spain’s policy of giving legal status to hundreds of thousands of migrants already in the country and claimed Spain was replacing Spaniards with migrants.