MADRID (AP) — President Donald Trump exclaimed European leaders on efforts to delay irregular migration, claiming he has done little to prevent the influx of outsiders that changed the continent.
But Trump’s claims in his speech to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday have been declining primarily over a decade amid a decline in irregular border crossings in Europe. European Union countries have spent billions of euros to stop the flow of unauthorized immigration, including people who came to the EU illegally or applied for asylum in one of its member states.
Let’s take a look at the facts.
The immigrants are on a small boat arriving in the UK on French gravel on September 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias, file)
Irregular migration to Europe is not increasing
Trump: “Europe has serious problems. They’ve been invaded by illegal alien forces that we’ve never seen before.”
Fact: According to the EU’s border control agency Frontex, irregular border intersections from January to August fell by about 20% compared to the same period last year. Preliminary data shows that around 112,000 people set up flags trying to cross the EU’s external borders during the first eight months of the EU, but nearly 140,000 were flagged between January and August 2024. Some people may have been detected multiple times.
Still, as was the case in the US when Donald Trump first ran for president, unauthorized immigrants have been heavily overwhelmed by European politics since 2015, when a large number of migrants and refugees, including many who fled the Syrian civil war, arrived.
EU data shows that asylum applications for Europe fell last year, but have risen since 2020. Since 2008, the first year such numbers existed, asylum demands have peaked at 1.2 million in 2015.
Detainees will run on March 19, 2024 in the open area of Pontegalleria, one of the facilities created to retain immigrants prior to repatriation in Rome, Italy.
Europe is suffering from deportation orders
Trump: “Illegal aliens are poured into Europe, and no one has done anything to change it.
Fact: EU authorities are struggling to implement deportation orders. According to the European Commission, more than 400,000 foreigners who are not legally in the EU are ordered to retire each year, but only about 20% have been expelled.
Geographical and bureaucratic hurdles make undocumented forced migration within the block difficulties, authorities say.
“Geography joins the challenge. People don’t go to one place. They go to dozens of countries. They all have different levels of cooperation and different political reality. And not all countries are very open to regain their citizens.”
Trump also said that European countries would “go to hell” and that immigrants stopped coming to the United States illegally when his administration began “detaining and deporting everyone who crossed the border.”
After the Biden administration introduced severe asylum restrictions in June 2024, and Trump took office in January, it plunged further, falling to 60 years’ lowest levels, the arrests for illegal crossings on the US border with Mexico plunged. The administration has launched an aggressive deportation campaign across the country, but is not regularly published.
Some EU countries have large immigrant and foreign-born populations in prisons
Trump: “In 2024, according to the Council of Europe, almost 50% of prisoners in German prisons were foreigners or immigrants. In Austria, 53% of prison people came from places that were not from where they were now.
Fact: This is largely true, but the number of Trumps against Germany was incorrect. Last year, 37% (rather than 50%) of German inmates were foreign-born or immigrants.
In Austria, around 48% of inmates are Austrian citizens, standing in line with Trump numbers. In Switzerland, foreigners also make up almost 73% of the prison population, and government data shows that the rate has been stable for 20 years. Data released in April this year shows that this is 5,069 out of nearly 7,000 inmates.
The reasons vary, according to Femke Van Der Meulen, founder of Netherlands-based nonprofit prison watch.
“For foreigners, there is a higher chance of detection. The appearance and language of foreigners can increase the risk of detection. More easily, they are often detained because they have no place to live in the country. Authorities try to make a safe bet on the fact that the person will not flee the country.”
London Mayor Sadiq Khan attended a technology event at John Randle Centre in Lagos, Nigeria on July 15, 2025 (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba, File)
Trump says the mayor of London wants to implement the Sharia Act
Trump: “I’m looking at London where you have a terrible mayor – awful, terrible mayor – and that’s so unusual that now they want to go to Sharia’s law.”
Fact: London Mayor Sadiq Khan has never suggested that he might try to introduce Sharia, or Islamic law to London.
On Wednesday, Khan told Sky News that he is “a Muslim mayor leading a liberal, multicultural, progressive, successful city.”
In the UK, according to Islamic teaching, there are several Sharia councils that address marriage and family issues. They resemble the Beth Din Rabbinical Court, a Jewish man who also exists in the UK.
The decisions of Muslim and Jewish councils, even if they have weight within the religious communities they serve, have no relation to the UK legal system.
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Find the fact check for your AP here: https://apnews.com/apfactcheck.
___ Associated Press reporters Kirsten Grieshaber of Berlin, Jamey Keaten of Geneva, Renata Brito of Barcelona, Spain, Derek Gatopoulos of Athens, Greece, and Jill Lawless of London.
