Trump On Migration Hurting EU: "It's Not Politically-Correct to Say That, But I'll Say It And Say It Loud"

Q: Francis Elliott, The Times. Prime Minister, I wonder whether you agree with the President of the United States that immigration has damaged the cultural fabric of Europe. And, President, perhaps you could elaborate on that remark. What do you mean by that?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: I think it's been very bad for Europe. I think Europe is a place I know very well, and I think that what has happened is very tough. It's a very tough situation. I mean, you see the same terror attacks that I do. We see them a lot. We just left some incredible young men -- men and women -- at Sandhurst. And they were showing us cells and they were showing us things that, frankly, 20 years ago nobody even thought about. Probably at a lot more recently than that -- nobody even thought about.

I just think it's changing the culture. I think it's a very negative thing for Europe. I think it's very negative. I think having Germany -- and I have a great relationship with Angela Merkel. Great relationship with Germany. But I think that's very much hurt Germany. I think it's very much hurt other parts of Europe.

And I know it's politically not necessarily correct to say that. But I'll say it and I'll say it loud. And I think they better watch themselves because you are changing culture. You are changing a lot of things. You're changing security. You're changing -- look at what's happening. I mean, you take a look. I mean, look at what's happening to different countries that never had difficulty, never had problems.

It's a very sad situation. It's very unfortunate. But I do not think it's good for Europe and I don't think it's good for our country. We're, as you know, far superior to anything that's happened before, but we have very bad immigration laws and we're -- I mean, we're doing incredibly well considering the fact that we virtually don't have immigration laws. We have laws that are so bad, I don't even call them "laws." I call them -- it's just like, you just walk across the border. You walk across the border, you put one foot on the land and now you're tied up in a lawsuit for five years. It's the craziest thing anyone has ever seen.

So I would just make that recommendation to Europe. I've made it very loud and clear. I made it yesterday -- 29 countries total. And that's the way I feel.

PRIME MINISTER MAY: The UK has a proud history of welcoming people who are fleeing persecution to our country. We have a proud history of welcoming people who want to come to our country to contribute to our economy and contribute to our society. And over the years, overall immigration has been good for the UK. It's brought people with different backgrounds, different outlooks here to the UK, and has -- and we've seen them contributing to our society and to our economy.

Of course, what is important is that we have control of our borders. What is important is that we have a set of rules that enables us to determine who comes into our country. And of course, that is what, as a government, we have been doing for a number of years and will be able to continue to do in the future.