Lara Trump says refugees ‘one of the worst things that ever happened’ to Germany

Face of president's 2020 campaign says 2015 influx 'was one of the worst things that ever happened'

Lara Trump has denounced Germany’s acceptance of refugees, claiming Chancellor Angela Merkel’s immigration policies have led to the European nation’s “downfall".

Ms Trump, who serves as the face of Donald Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign, joined Fox Business to discuss the president’s immigration agenda when she made the controversial remarks about the influx of people in 2015.

“It was the downfall of Germany,” she said about refugees and migrants being accepted into the country. “It was one of the worst things that ever happened to Germany.”

“This president knows that,” she continued, “he’s trying to prevent that from happening here, but Congress has got to get their act together and do the right thing here for the American people.”

Her comments immediately sparked backlash online from critics, who pointed to the rise of the Nazi regime, the Holocaust and World War Two as several examples of other historic afflictions to beset Germany.

The president’s 2020 spokesperson also failed to note research indicating the influx of migrants has benefited the German economy.

The country’s GDP grew steadily by an average of 0.2 per cent each year from 2011 to 2016 due to EU immigration, according to research conducted by the German Institute for Economic Research.

Ms Trump was echoing the president’s hard-line stance on migration on Thursday when she suggested the German chancellor should not have allowed an increase of refugees to enter the country.

Ms Merkel, meanwhile, has defended the country’s decision to open its doors to migrants, saying in a 2016 speech: “A rejection of the humanitarian stance we took could have led to even worse consequences.”

Under Mr Trump, the federal government has sought to sharply reduce the number of refugees and migrants seeking asylum at the US-Mexico border.

The president has threatened to close the southern border outright, as his administration seeks to include a citizenship question on the upcoming US census.