Donald Trump has advised Spain to build a border wall across the Sahara desert, with the object of halting the Mediterranean migrant crisis. Spain’s foreign minister Josep Borrell relayed the US President’s remarks during a luncheon in Madrid last month and his comments have been widely reported in Spanish newspapers.
“the Sahara border can’t be bigger than our border with Mexico.”
Trump’s suggestion is thought to have been made during June when Spain’s foreign minister visited the White House with King Felipe and Queen Letizia. According to Borrel, Trump’s response to concerns about the feasibility of such a project across 3,000 miles of desert was to claim that, “the Sahara border can’t be bigger than our border with Mexico.”
(It’s actually 1,000 miles longer and would involve negotiations with 11 north Africa countries; Spain only holds the enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla.)
A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry in Madrid is reported to have confirmed, “That’s what the minister said,” but added there would be no further comment on his remarks.
One of Trump’s flagship policies during the 2016 presidential race was to build a “big, beautiful wall” along the US border with Mexico to prevent illegal migration, and to get Mexico to pay for it. Mexico refused.
