Italy suspends Schengen with Spain as Ceuta migrant crisis sparks far-right backlash

Italy has suspended its Schengen agreement with Spain, Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on Friday, calling the measure “unavoidable”. “The temporary suspension of Schengen with Spain is a necessary choice to safeguard the security of our citizens and defend the European borders,” he wrote in a post on X. He noted that the influx of migrants in Ceuta, Spain, “reminds us that the management of the Union’s borders is a shared responsibility among our countries, one toward the other”. “We must work together to prevent uncontrolled migrant flows from entering EU territory, with all the consequent risks and the threat of terrorism, which must be countered without hesitation,” he added. US President Donald Trump led far-right attempts on Friday on both sides of the Atlantic to make political capital from Spain’s migration crisis, portraying the migrant surge in Ceuta as a warning for America if his opponents get into power. “It’s terrible. Remember that picture. That’s going to be us in three years if the wrong side gets in,” Trump was quoted as saying by Fox News. “If the Democrats get in, you will not live a very good life.” With polls showing Trump’s support has fallen into the low 30 per cent range and opposition Democrats hoping to win at least partial control of Congress in November midterm elections, the crisis in Spain offers Republicans a chance to return to one of their political strongpoints. News footage of migrants overwhelming barriers to get into Ceuta — a tiny Spanish territory on the Moroccan coast — aired repeatedly on Fox News and went viral across right-wing Trump-allied social media accounts. In Europe, far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) co-leader Alice Weidel claimed in an X post that “Ceuta was left in ruins overnight” by the mass influx from Morocco. She argued that Germany is “likely the destination for most of these migrants”. “Germany must prepare itself: borders must be secured and rejections rigorously enforced,” wrote Weidel, whose party is backed by top Trump officials. Both Italy’s right-wing prime minister Giorgia Meloni and the populist right-wing ruling coalition in Finland called for excluding Spain from the European visa-free zone as a result of the situation. Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis, a billionaire Trump supporter, said the Ceuta situation was caused by Spain’s policy of offering hundreds of thousands of migrants already in the country a legal status. “They are replacing Spaniards with migrants,” Babis said. ‘Invasion of the West’ Trump’s election victory over Democrat Kamala Harris in 2024 was fueled by voter worries over uncontrolled migration on the US-Mexico border and his lurid warnings of migrants coming to murder Americans and even to eat their pets. Trump’s vice president, JD Vance, posted news footage on Friday of migrants pouring into Ceuta on X and wrote it highlighted “radical left-wing globalist policies that have enabled the Invasion of the West.” “These images out of Spain are an unfortunate reminder of the consequences of mass migration,” Vance posted on X. Late on Thursday, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, a chief architect of Trump’s anti-migration crackdown, posted video of the Ceuta crisis and said, “Democrats will see your home trampled and stolen by invaders and they will rejoice.”

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) -- US President Donald Trump led far-right attempts Friday on both sides of the Atlantic to make political capital from Spain's migration crisis, portraying the migrant surge in Ceuta as a warning for America if his opponents get into power. "It's terrible. Remember that picture. That's going to be us in three years if the wrong side gets in," Trump was quoted as saying by Fox News. "If the Democrats get in, you will not live a very good life." With polls showing Trump's support has fallen into the low 30 percent range and opposition Democrats hoping to win at least partial control of Congress in November midterm elections, the crisis in Spain offers Republicans a chance to return to one of their political strongpoints. News footage of migrants overwhelming barriers to get into Ceuta -- a tiny Spanish territory on the Moroccan coast -- aired repeatedly on Fox News and went viral across right-wing Trump-allied social media accounts. In Europe, far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) co-leader Alice Weidel claimed in an X post that "Ceuta was left in ruins overnight" by the mass influx from Morocco. She argued that Germany is "likely the destination for most of these migrants." "Germany must prepare itself: borders must be secured and rejections rigorously enforced," wrote Weidel, whose party is backed by top Trump officials. Both Italy's right-wing prime minister Giorgia Meloni and the populist right-wing ruling coalition in Finland called for excluding Spain from the European visa-free zone as a result of the situation. Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis, a billionaire Trump supporter, said the Ceuta situation was caused by Spain's policy of offering hundreds of thousands of migrants already in the country a legal status. "They are replacing Spaniards with migrants," Babis said. - 'Invasion of the West' - Trump's election victory over Democrat Kamala Harris in 2024 was fueled by voter worries over uncontrolled migration on the US-Mexico border and his lurid warnings of migrants coming to murder Americans and even to eat their pets. Trump's vice president, JD Vance, posted news footage on Friday of migrants pouring into Ceuta on X and wrote it highlighted "radical left-wing globalist policies that have enabled the Invasion of the West." "These images out of Spain are an unfortunate reminder of the consequences of mass migration," Vance posted on X. Late Thursday, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, a chief architect of Trump's anti-migration crackdown, posted video of the Ceuta crisis and said "Democrats will see your home trampled and stolen by invaders and they will rejoice."