Donald Trump and his lieutenants on Friday seized upon images of thousands of migrants joining the Spanish enclave of Ceuta to defend their anti-immigration policy and attack their left-wing opponents, in unison with the European far right.

"Remember this image. That will be us in three years if the wrong side wins," the US president warned Fox News, a few months before midterm elections that are off to a bad start for the Republicans in power in Washington.

"If the Democrats win, you're not going to have a very pleasant life," Donald Trump told the American network, remarks reported on X by reporter Jacqui Heinrich.

On the other side of the Atlantic, Italy, under Giorgia Meloni, seized upon the issue as early as Thursday evening, declaring its intention to suspend Spain from the Schengen Area—even though this is not feasible. "Italy will not stand idly by," the far-right Prime Minister stated, denouncing the "shocking images" from Ceuta.

Sixty thousand migrants have reached the Spanish enclave of Ceuta from Morocco in a few days, according to local authorities, the largest wave of migrant arrivals since 2021 in this territory on the north coast of Africa.

A senior European official stated in Brussels on Friday that there were "no movements toward the European continent at present." However, from Washington to Prague, Western right-wing and far-right parties see this as an opportunity to defend their anti-immigration stance, which is central to their political agenda.

A turn-off for the right

"These images from Spain are an unfortunate reminder of the consequences of mass migration and the globalist policies of the radical left that have allowed the invasion of the West," wrote US Vice President JD Vance, a highly ideological mouthpiece for "America First," on X.

During Joe Biden's presidency, images of migrants crossing the border from Mexico were constantly replayed on Fox News, the favorite channel of American conservatives. Up to 300,000 arrests per month took place, before these numbers declined towards the end of the Democrat's term, falling to near-zero levels by the time Donald Trump returned to the White House in early 2025.

This drastic drop in illegal immigration at the country's southern border is regularly celebrated as a victory by Donald Trump and his supporters, who are campaigning for the midterm legislative elections scheduled for November, a historically difficult election for the ruling party.

Referring to the images from this week in Ceuta, the very militaristic White House advisor Stephen Miller warned on X on Thursday: "The Democrats have inflicted this on America every day for four years under Biden and will do it again right now, but on an infinitely larger scale, if they get any sliver of national power."

Spain in the crosshairs

In Europe, the far right is attacking the Spanish government of Pedro Sánchez.

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis, a nationalist billionaire allied with far-right parties, accuses the socialist government in Madrid of having allowed these migrants to enter "solely for the purpose of being re-elected".

"History repeats itself. In 2015, Angela Merkel invited undocumented migrants to come to Germany for political reasons, in order to defeat the liberals and the Greens. (...) The Spanish government is doing exactly the same thing today," he said, according to a statement sent to AFP by the government spokesman.

The same sentiment was echoed by the Frenchwoman Marine Le Pen.

The National Rally (RN) presidential candidate denounced on X these "massive and coordinated entries (...) encouraged by the Spanish government".

"Ceuta was left in ruins overnight," denounced Alice Weidel, co-leader of the German far right, on X, calling on German authorities to "secure" the country's borders.

AFP