Trump’s Immigration Remarks Outrage Many, but Others Quietly Agree<br />Several European heads of government were proudly xenophobic in their responses to a refugee crisis in 2015, when more than one million asylum seekers arrived by boat on European shores, prompting a surge in support for far-right parties<br />and nativist rhetoric — particularly in Central and Eastern Europe.<br />The consequences include increased mistrust and policies aimed more at stopping than facilitating human movement.”<br />Mr. Knaus, of the European Stability Initiative, was one of several commentators who expressed fear<br />that Mr. Trump would only embolden xenophobic rhetoric.<br />“What we see now is a conscious policy to reintroduce language<br />that was previously not acceptable in debate,” said Gerald Knaus, the director of the European Stability Initiative, a Berlin-based research organization that has played a leading role in forming recent European migration policy.<br />“In every Austrian and German village, they follow what the U. S. president is doing.”<br />In Western Europe, heads of government have sometimes described migrants in terms of floods and hordes —<br />but the most abusive language has usually been restricted to far-right opposition politicians like Marine Le Pen in France and Geert Wilders in Holland.<br />“There’s a denial among many European leaders that they’re anything like Trump — while they promote measures<br />that will have the same impact” as Mr. Trump’s restrictions, she said.
