Trump again invokes “sad” Ceuta crisis to attack Spain over border control
Translated from Spanish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.
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Ongoing story
- Donald Trump again criticized Spain over the migration crisis in Ceuta, calling the country one with “ZERO control” of its border.
- His latest post repeated comments he made in a recent GB News interview, while also renewing complaints about Spain's defense spending and other policies.
- Trump later acknowledged that illegal crossings intercepted at the U.S.-Mexico border had reached 10,000 a day during the worst period of Joe Biden's administration.
Donald Trump has returned to the migration crisis in Ceuta to criticize Spain, calling what is happening there "very sad" and describing Spain as a country with "ZERO control of its border."
The U.S. president posted the message late Saturday night in Washington, early Sunday in Spain. It followed remarks he made the previous week in an interview with the British broadcaster GB News, where he said: "What is happening there is very sad to see. Thousands of people breaking into your country en masse. I have never seen anything like it."
Very sad what is happening in Spain.
The two statements fit a familiar pattern in Trump's public messaging, the article says: once he finds a clear and forceful line, he repeats it across several available platforms. Spain, and particularly its current government, has been a recurring target since Trump returned to the White House.
ZERO control of its border.
Trump has spent more than a year criticizing Spain for refusing to raise defense spending to 5 percent, making it the only exception among NATO partners in his account. He has also objected to the government's position on Israel's role in Gaza and its refusal to make the shared-use bases at Rota and Morón available for Washington's military campaign in Iran.
In the GB News interview, Trump said: "Spain will be a ruined country. I have problems with Spain because it is not behaving very well with respect to NATO and is not paying what it should pay." The article describes GB News as a right-wing, populist and anti-woke broadcaster whose alignment with MAGA positions has given it unusual access to the Trump White House.
What is happening there is very sad to see. Thousands of people breaking into your country en masse. I have never seen anything like it.
Trump has discussed Spain during the campaign for the U.S. midterm elections, scheduled for Sept. 3 in the article. He also walked back his claim that he had never seen anything like the Ceuta crisis, recalling that illegal crossings intercepted by authorities at the U.S.-Mexico border reached 10,000 a day during the worst period of Biden's administration. Securing the southern border has been one of the main policies of his second administration.
Spain will be a ruined country. I have problems with Spain because it is not behaving very well with respect to NATO and is not paying what it should pay.
About this summary
Originally published by El País in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.
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