Allowing “millions and millions” of migrants to enter Europe has changed its “fabric” the American leader noted.
“I think you are losing your culture,” Trump told The Sun in comments published during his first presidential visit to the UK. “Look around. You go through certain areas that didn’t exist ten or 15 years ago.””
Before leaving Brussels for London, the president told a press conference he had warned his European counterparts about open borders at the NATO summit already.
“I made a point today – I said, you’ve got to stop. You’re ruining your – you’re going to have a lot of problems,” he said. “You see what’s going on throughout the world with immigration.”
Trump said that the immigration problem was partly responsible for his election, as well as voters turning to anti-immigration parties in Italy, and in Britain in 2016, choosing Brexit.
“I told them today, the EU, the European Union, better be very careful, because immigration is taking over Europe, and they better be very, very careful. And I said that loud and clear.” The United States’ migrant total has risen to 49.8 million from 44.2 million in 2010, 34.8 million in 2000 and 23.3 million in 1990, according to IOM data.
In Europe, which includes Russia, there were 77.9 million migrants in 2017, with Germany welcoming the largest number of 12.2 million, or 14.8 percent of the total German population.
Europe’s migrant numbers have risen to 77.9 million from 70.7 million in 2010, 56.3 million in 2000 and 49.2 million in 1990. Globally, the number of migrants has risen to 257.7 million last year, from 220 million in 2010, 172.6 million in 2000 and 152.5 million in 1990.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, meanwhile told reporters in New York that migration was “a positive global phenomenon”.
The General Assembly passed a non-binding agreement set to be formally adopted at a UN conference in Morocco in December. A year ago the Trump administration withdrew from the initiative stating that the US “simply cannot in good faith support a process that could undermine the sovereign right of the United States to enforce our immigration laws and secure our borders”.
“Migration is a positive global phenomenon,” Guterres said. “Many aging developed countries need migrants to fill crucial gaps in labor markets. Climate change and other factors, including simple human aspiration, will continue to lead people to seek opportunity far from their homes.”
Before becoming secretary-general, Guterres was the appointed UN high commissioner for refugees.
Even with the sharp drop in admissions under the Trump administration the United States still admitted more migrants than any other single country last year. Some 33 368 asylum applicants were resettled in the US in 2017, out of a total 103 000 resettled worldwide, according to State Department and UNHCR figures.
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