Trump Repeats Decade-Old Warning to Macron as Unrest Spreads Across France

President Donald Trump has renewed a warning he says he has given French President Emmanuel Macron for years: that France could "lose" its country if it fails to deal with immigration.

Speaking to Fox News Digital on Tuesday night after a rally in Texas, where he made a last push for Republicans ahead of next week's midterm elections, Trump said the unrest in France is not about education. "It's not a school problem. It's an immigration problem," he said. He added that he likes Macron "a lot," but has told him, "You're going to end up losing your country if you don't do something."

The comments come as student demonstrations in France have grown into broader protests over local grievances. The crowds have filled streets, led to clashes and sent shockwaves across Europe.

Trump said he discussed the situation earlier this week with Charles Kushner, the U.S. ambassador to France, and that they talked about the country's immigration problems, which he believes are behind the protests. "You have people that hate France," he said. "They hate the buildings, hate the art, they hate the people. And they're in there, and you have to get them out."

He called the situation in France and elsewhere in Europe "very sad" and said his warnings to Macron stretch back a decade. "Something has to happen, and they better do something," Trump said. "I've been saying it for 10 years, too." Trump has voiced concern about European immigration since his first presidential campaign in 2016, and Macron took office the following year. Trump has also credited his own immigration policies with preventing similar unrest in the United States.

Last week, Macron accused foreign leaders of making "unacceptable and even stupid" comments, describing them as false claims made for political gain. He did not name Trump or Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Both the United States and Israel are in the middle of high-stakes election cycles.

Inside France, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said "nearly 1,000 people" were arrested on Saturday as nationwide protests resumed. Macron said "ultra-left groups whose aim is to bring down the Republic" are driving the demonstrations, and that gatherings organized by "individuals or groups with no legitimate authority" would be banned. He said anyone who loots or damages property will have to pay, and tens of thousands of police officers have been deployed.

A Fox News Digital investigation identified 50 Antifa groups among nearly 300 groups mobilizing around the protests, along with a wide network of communist, socialist, far-left and anti-Israel organizations.

Unrest has also spread elsewhere in Europe this month. Violence broke out in Rome and in Tirana, the capital of Albania, where demonstrators set government buildings on fire. Fox News Digital said it had asked Macron's office for comment.