“Violently Changed Their Culture”: Donald Trump On Migrants In Europe

President Donald Trump, who is under pressure over the US policy of separating immigrant children from parents who illegally cross the Mexican border, waded into the dispute in Germany with a morning Twitter tirade.

CSU leaders insisted that the causes for the drop in support were in Berlin and that Germany’s migration policy was a major factor.

In a series of Twitter posts, Trump falsely claimed that crime in Germany is on the rise, and railed against immigration policies in Europe, even as his own policies at home face bipartisan criticism about the separation of children from parents when they are stopped at US borders.

Here’s a closer look at what Mr. Trump said on Monday, and what’s actually happening in Germany.

Trump said in a tweet, “CHANGE THE LAWS!”

On Monday the foreign affairs minister, SPD lawmaker Heiko Maas, tweeted a strong defense of Merkel and a Europe-wide response to migration: “The EU stands for a promise that has made Europe a place of longing worldwide”.

Merkel’s “already tenuous” coalition has indeed just weathered a storm that threatened to bring down the government.

Seehofer struck a more conciliatory tone when he told Bild on Sunday that “it is not in the CSU’s interest to topple the chancellor, to dissolve the CDU-CSU union or to break up the coalition”.

Mrs Merkel is trying to get France to create a joint proposal with her to tighten asylum rules before the European Union leaders summit in late June.

The CSU has set Monday as the day to start implementing a national policy, a move Merkel rejects as it would reverse her 2015 open-door policy and undermine her authority.

The German commentariat wrote themselves into a Wagnerian Götterdämmerung frenzy.

Soeder and the CSU’s ambitious top lawmaker in Berlin, Alexander Dobrindt, have sounded even tougher than Seehofer lately in demanding immediate action on immigration.

The survey found that 62 percent of respondents were in favor of turning back undocumented migrants at the border, in line with the stance of Seehofer who is openly challenging Merkel.

Popular misgivings over the massive migrant influx have given populist and anti-immigration forces a boost across several European nations, including Italy and Austria where far-right parties are now sharing power. But that is precisely the reason they are not going to pick up the tab if Germany tightens its border regime.

Merkel opposes this, saying that such unilateral measures represent a setback to the EU’s Schengen open-border system and any chances of overcoming deep divisions in the bloc.

Seehofer and Merkel have long had an awkward relationship.

Good stuff. But – and Trump is right here, again – the coalition squabble has led to sinking approval ratings for the government.

Trump has rejected criticism that his “zero-tolerance” immigration policy has caused family separations at the USA border, and instead pointed to crime in Germany as the reason tough laws are necessary.