Trump Says Paris Will Be a Muslim City Very Soon, Blaming Migrants for the France Riots

President Donald Trump said on Monday, October 19, that Paris is "going to be a Muslim city very soon" and blamed migrants for the rioting and looting that followed the weekend protests in France.

Trump spoke to reporters at the White House before he left for a campaign rally in Kansas. "Migrants have taken over France," he said, according to USA Today. He urged French President Emmanuel Macron to cut migration and to "take those bad people out," the New York Post reported, in words that pointed to his own mass deportation campaign in the United States.

"I told him a long time ago, 'You're making a big mistake in France. You're letting everybody from the world come in,'" Trump said. He said he had told Macron for years that he should close his borders. "If Europe doesn't close its borders and bring the criminals out, like the people that are protesting, Europe is finished," he added. "That's not about school. That's about people coming into the country that hate the country, they hate the buildings, they hate the people, they hate the art."

Earlier on Monday, Trump made the same point on his Truth Social platform. "The migrants have taken over France. They must CLOSE THE BORDERS, FAST!" he wrote.

What French leaders say caused the unrest

Trump made the Paris remark after a reporter asked him about Macron blaming France's discontent in part on Trump's war with Iran, which has pushed up fuel costs around the world. Macron said on October 18 that the sharp rise in energy prices, a central complaint of the demonstrators, came from that war, which he said France was not part of.

French government officials have said the protesters have real concerns about the cost of living. The protests began as a student movement asking for more funding for education and better conditions in schools. Labour unions, farmers and other workers later joined, angry about living costs and record high fuel prices.

On Saturday, October 17, about 500,000 people protested across France, the Post reported. Smaller groups then looted stores, attacked police and set fires. One of the worst scenes came on October 18, when an arson attack destroyed the historic town hall in Limoges.

Vance and Johnson make the same argument

Vice President JD Vance also blamed immigration. He reposted a video of the fire in Limoges that showed the town hall spire falling as flames took hold of the building. "Western liberals imported the third world into France and other countries in the name of diversity and compassion," Vance wrote. "They ignored fundamental questions of assimilation and compatibility."

House Speaker Mike Johnson made a similar case on social media. "What we are witnessing is a chilling warning for all Americans of what happens if the radical Marxist insurgent left gets their way," he wrote, arguing that Democrats would bring open borders and criminals into the United States if they took back control of Congress.

The comments come two weeks before the midterm elections, with Trump's approval rating falling and Republicans fighting to hold their narrow majorities in Congress. USA Today reported that voter frustration over the economy and higher costs linked to the Iran war sits behind much of that pressure.