Rabat – US President Donald Trump has used the recent migration crisis in occupied Ceuta to reinforce the Republican Party’s immigration platform ahead of the November 2026 US midterm elections, presenting the events at Spain’s southern border as a warning of what he says could happen in the United States under Democratic leadership.
Speaking at a White House Cabinet meeting on Friday, Trump described the scenes in the Spanish-occupied enclave as evidence of the consequences of what he called weak immigration policies.
“It looks like an invasion of a country by hundreds of thousands of people,” Trump said. “The same thing is going to happen to us if the Republicans don’t get elected, except worse, much bigger, much easier to get into.”
He argued that the United States currently has “the safest border in the world” because of his administration’s immigration measures, adding that if Republicans lose power, “our country will be invaded at levels that make Spain look small time.”
Trump also suggested that Spain’s situation stemmed from “weak law, bad management, but very liberal law,” claiming migrants respond to policy changes after learning about them abroad.
“When you look at what happened to Spain, they don’t know what to do,” he said. “They’re coming in by the tens of thousands. They’re just invading the country.”
The remarks came after Spanish authorities reported that tens of thousands of migrants attempted to enter occupied Ceuta from Morocco over the past several days. Spanish officials also said up to 57 people died during attempts to reach the enclave, underscoring the human cost of the unfolding crisis.
Rather than focusing on the circumstances surrounding the crossings or the fatalities reported at the border, the events quickly became part of the political debate in Washington as Republicans intensified their campaigns ahead of the November midterm elections.
Senior White House officials echoed Trump’s message on social media. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller argued that similar scenes had occurred in the United States during former President Joe Biden’s administration and warned that Democrats would allow an even larger influx of migrants if they returned to power.
White House Communications Director Steven Cheung also linked the images from Ceuta to the US political debate, saying Trump’s election had prevented comparable situations from unfolding under his administration.
