US Vice President JD Vance has sparked a row with the United Kingdom after linking the murder of an 18-year-old student to what he described as the consequences of mass migration, prompting a sharp rebuke from the UK government.In a post on X on Friday, Vance commented on the killing of Henry Nowak, who was fatally stabbed in Southampton in December by stabbed by Indian-origin Vickrum Digwa. The case has drawn significant attention in recent days, particularly among anti-immigration activists and right-wing commentators.“Henry Nowak died the same way a civilization dies: abandoned, handcuffed by authorities who neither trusted nor cared for him, and accused of hate crimes he did not commit,” Vance said on X.“His murder is as tragic as it is enraging,” he said.The US Vice President went on to argue that the circumstances surrounding the case reflected broader societal failures and urged what he called “righteous anger” in response.23-year-old Digwa was convicted of murder this week and sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 21 years. Following the attack, Digwa falsely told police that he had been racially abused and was the victim of the incident. Officers initially treated the wounded Nowak as a suspect before discovering he had suffered a fatal stab wound and attempting to save his life.Digwa used an eight-inch Sikh dagger in the attack. Despite efforts by some groups to portray the case through the lens of race and migration, both Nowak and Digwa were British citizens.Vance nevertheless linked the killing to immigration, writing that Henry “should still be alive today, and he would be if the last few generations of European elites had stood their ground against the politics of self-hatred and the mass invasion of migrants, many of whom despise the West and the people who love it.”“Henry was far from the first to so needlessly lose his life, and I fear he won’t be the last,” he added.His remarks drew an immediate response from Downing Street, which accused external actors of inflaming tensions around a deeply sensitive case.“We have seen people trying to interfere in our democracy and seeking to stir up division on our streets,” a spokesperson for Prime Minister Keir Starmer said.The spokesperson noted that the victim’s family had appealed for restraint and unity following Henry’s death.The family, the statement said, did not want the killing “to be used to create further division, hatred or tension.”“The Nowak family are grieving after Henry’s horrific murder. They have said they do not want his death to be used to create further division, hatred or tension. We should be respecting their wishes,” the statement added. “Our politics should bring people together even in the most terrible of circumstances. That is who we are as a country.”The case has also fuelled debate over claims of so-called “two-tier” policing in Britain. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and other right-wing figures have alleged that police treated the incident differently because of the identities of those involved, an accusation the British government says is unsupported by evidence.The US State Department echoed those criticisms in a post on X on Thursday, expressing sympathy to Nowak’s family and stating that “Ideological conditioning and two-tiered policing are glaring symptoms of civilizational decline.”Britain’s Independent Office for Police Conduct is currently examining the actions of officers who responded to the stabbing.Henry’s father, Mark Nowak, has repeatedly rejected attempts to turn the tragedy into a political or cultural battleground. He has said the case was not about race or religion and has called for his son’s death to be used as a catalyst for safer streets rather than greater division.The controversy comes amid growing criticism from senior figures in the Trump administration and its allies over migration and policing policies in Europe. Tech billionaire Elon Musk, who has frequently commented on British political issues, has also posted extensively about the handling of the Southampton case.Vance is the most senior member of President Donald Trump’s administration to publicly weigh in on the matter, further escalating tensions between Washington and London over an issue that British officials insist should not be politicised.
