BRUSSELS, July 12 (Xinhua) -- At the heart of Europe, U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday had a dire warning for his political counterparts across the Atlantic -- immigration is taking over Europe.
"I'm very strong on immigration. I made a point today. I said you've got to stop ruining," Trump warned NATO allies, 22 of whom are also members of the European Union.
"You're gonna have a lot of problems. You see what's going on throughout the world with immigration. I, probably at least partially, won an election because of immigration," he said.
Back in the U.S., Trump is currently under fire over his administration's zero-tolerance policy on America's southern border with Mexico.
"If you look at Italy, Giuseppe, who I got to know quite well in the last month and a half, he won his election because of strong immigration policies on Italy," Trump said, referring to Giuseppe Conte, Prime Minister of Italy.
Conte was a law professor largely unknown to politics before being nominated by the Five Star Movement and the League to be Italian Prime Minister. He did not run in the Italian election.
Trump also said immigration was also the reason "why Brexit happened".
Trump said, "Immigration is a very important thing. I told them today that the EU, the European Union, better be very careful, because immigration is taking over Europe."
"And they'd better be very, very careful. And I said that loud and clear," Trump added.
