US Republicans frame the Cueta crisis narrative for upcoming elections
US President Donald Trump and his vice president JD Vance led far-right efforts on both sides of the Atlantic to exploit Spain’s migration crisis, portraying the surge in Ceuta as a preview for America 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,” Trump said in remarks quoted by Fox News. “If the Democrats get in, you will not live a very good life.”The US president’s comments come as his poll numbers have dropped into the low 30 percent range, with Democrats hoping to win at least partial control of Congress in the November midterm elections. The Ceuta crisis offers Republicans a chance to return to one of their signature political issues.Vance posted news footage of migrants pouring into Ceuta on X, writing that it highlighted “radical left-wing globalist policies that have enabled the Invasion of the West.” White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller also weighed in, posting a video and claiming “Democrats will see your home trampled and stolen by invaders and they will rejoice.” News footage of migrants overwhelming barriers to enter Ceuta, a tiny Spanish territory on the Moroccan coast, went viral across right-wing, Trump-allied social media accounts. In Europe, far-right leaders also seized on the crisis. Alternative for Germany co-leader Alice Weidel claimed in an X post that “Ceuta was left in ruins overnight” by the mass influx. She argued Germany is “likely the destination for most of these migrants” and called for securing borders and rigorously enforcing rejections. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and the populist ruling coalition in Finland called for excluding Spain from the European visa-free zone. Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis, a Trump supporter, blamed Spain’s policy of offering legal status to hundreds of thousands of migrants already in the country, saying “They are replacing Spaniards with migrants.”Trump’s 2024 election victory was fueled by voter concerns over migration on the US-Mexico border and his warnings of migrants committing crimes.
