Trump tries to shift conversation on immigration, Sweden

President Donald Trump kept his curious comments about Sweden in the spotlight for another day, taking to Twitter on Monday to try to shift the debate to what he says is the impact of “large-scale” immigration in the Scandinavian country.

During a rally Saturday in Florida, Trump mentioned that something had happened “last night “in Sweden in referring to countries that have taken in a disproportionate number of refugees and have recently been the target of terrorist attacks.

After a slew of news stories speculating that Trump had made a mistake — Sweden had seen no recent violence — the president said on Twitter on Sunday that he had been referring to a segment on Fox News on Friday about “immigrants & Sweden.”

The president was seemingly referring to a Tucker Carlson interview with Ami Horowitz, a filmmaker who has blamed refugees for a purported crime wave in Sweden and alleged that authorities are trying to cover up the incidents.

Trump returned to the subject on Monday, trying to channel the conversation away from whether he misspoke.

Tweeting from Florida, where he spent the holiday weekend, Trump said media reports that are at odds with Horowitz’s conclusions are “fake news.”

“Give the public a break — The FAKE NEWS media is trying to say that large scale immigration in Sweden is working out just beautifully. NOT!”

Those disputing Horowitz’s conclusions include two Stockholm-based police officers who were featured in Horowitz’s film talking about crime and the accessibility of weapons.

“I don’t understand why we are part of the segment,” one of the police officers, Anders Goranzon, told the Dagens Nyheter newspaper on Monday. “The interview was about something completely different to what Fox News and Horowitz were talking about. It was supposed to be about crime in high-risk areas. Areas with high crime rates. There wasn’t any focus on migration or immigration.”

Sweden took in more refugees per capita than any other country in Europe at the height of the migrant influx in 2015, and the country has long viewed itself as having a moral obligation to take in refugees from war-torn countries. But Sweden reached its limits as other European Union neighbors refused to fulfill their commitments.

The influx of refugees has not come without problems in Sweden, but mainstream politicians and immigration experts say the criticism has been disproportionate.

In summer 2016, Swedish embassies were tasked to counter rumors or false information about Sweden’s experience.