[Shannon Stapleton/Reuters]
US President Donald Trump mentioned Greece during his address at the UN General Assembly, where he criticized the migration policies of European countries.
“Both the immigration and the suicidal energy ideas will be the death of western Europe, if something is not done immediately, this cannot be sustained,” Trump said, arguing that countries have a right to limit the number of migrants entering their territories.
Trump cited the Council of Europe’s Annual Penal Statistics on Prison Populations, highlighting that in several European countries, including Greece, a significant share of inmates in 2024 were foreign nationals.
“According to the Council of Europe in 2024 almost 50% of inmates in German prisons were foreign nationals or migrants, in Austria the number was 53%, in Greece the number was 54% and in Switzerland 72%,” he said.
Trump went on to call for an end to what he described as “open-borders.”
“When your prisons are filled with so-called asylum seekers, who they repaid kindness with crime, it’s time to end the failed experiment of open borders you have to end it now,” Trump said.
“Your countries are going to hell,” he added, noting that the United States has already taken measures to limit immigration.
