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By Taryn Pedler
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France has hit back at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after the agency shared a photograph of protesters alongside the caption "France has fallen.”
"Every day we are fighting to prevent American streets from looking like this,” ICE wrote on X.
The French Response account responded by sharing a graphic comparing gun crime statistics, with the U.S. ranked highest, alongside the caption: "Every day we are fighting to prevent French stats from looking like this.”
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The official account, created last September, is run by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and is aimed at responding to disinformation through memes, satirical posts and humor.
The exchange on Wednesday comes as President Donald Trump has repeatedly blamed unrest in France on migrants.
With November's midterm elections approaching, Trump has increasingly pointed to events in France as an example of what he says could happen in the United States if Republicans lose control of Congress.
His remarks have recast demonstrations initially focused on education and economic pressures as a warning about immigration and national identity.
At a rally in Kansas on Monday, Trump described France as a country whose decline he attributed to immigration, saying it had been "conquered, looted, and burned to the ground by migrants, jihadists, and communists."
"If you want to see what is at stake in this election, just look at what’s happening in France," he said.
Trump told the crowd that his administration would prevent a similar situation from developing in the United States.
The rally took place in Kansas, where Republican Senator Roger Marshall is facing a challenge from Democratic candidate Adam Hamilton.
Earlier on Monday, Trump had called for France to tighten its borders controls in a post on Truth Social, repeating his allegation that migrants had taken control of the country.
The president also criticized French President Emmanuel Macron while speaking to reporters at the White House. Trump claimed he had warned Macron that his approach to immigration was a mistake, arguing that France's capital was changing as a result of migration.
"The whole world was coming in, and as you know, Paris is going to be a Muslim city very soon, and that wasn’t the deal,” Trump said, adding: "We closed our borders. He didn’t.”
The White House has also weighed in on the unrest. Its official X account published a post stating: "If you import the third world, you become the third world.”
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Protests erupted across France in response to school conditions and the cost of living, leading to violent clashes, riots, fires and looting.
The demonstrations began with students raising concerns about teacher shortages, deteriorating school facilities and the university admissions process.
They then broadened as trade unions supported demands for improved wages, higher pensions and relief from rising living costs, with fuel prices and declining purchasing power among the issues highlighted by demonstrators.
But the unrest has since spread beyond its initial focus, with some protests descending into clashes with police and acts of vandalism.
Violence during demonstrations on Saturday included looting and arson in several cities, including a blaze that seriously damaged the historic town hall in Limoges.
French authorities reportedly made 1,800 arrests nationwide and curfews were introduced in several locations, including parts of Paris, as officials sought to contain further disorder.
Trump's comments have been echoed by other senior Republicans, who have similarly presented the unrest as evidence of the consequences of immigration policies they oppose.
Vice President JD Vance shared footage of the burning town hall in Limoges and blamed the violence on what he described as failures by liberal politicians.
"Western liberals imported the third world into France,” Vance wrote on X, arguing that French authorities had neglected questions surrounding integration and whether different communities could coexist.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Rebecca Flood and Tony Phillips.
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