The Trump administration has told American diplomats in the UK to collect data on crimes committed by migrants, saying British voters have been “let down” on immigration by Conservative and Labour politicians alike.
In a cable sent to American embassies last week, diplomats were told to begin reviewing “human rights abuses” committed by migrants in their host country.
The memo was sent to embassies across Europe as well as Australia, New Zealand and Canada, but in a sign that the White House is increasingly determined to intervene in Britain’s border struggles, the UK was singled out as an egregious example for its alleged failure to curb migration and its supposed tolerance of “organised rape gangs”.
A senior US State Department official said British people had voted for “reform” of mass migration but had been repeatedly “let down” by their politicians.
“The British government in particular, time and time again we’ve seen governments — whether it be Conservative governments, Labour governments — say that they’re going to take action to solve the mass migration crisis,” the official said.
“And time and time again, despite the people continuously voting for a resolution or at least some sort of relief from the pressures of mass migration, nothing has really happened.”
The official continued: “If you look at Europe … there are concerning increases that we’re seeing in sexual assaults and violent sexual aggravated attacks, particularly on women and young girls, by people of a migration background, particularly people of extremist Islamic background as well.
“Everything from violent rape gangs and organised rape gangs in the United Kingdom to targeting of young girls in other countries. We also see instances of human trafficking, antisemitic and anti-Christian attacks, largely by people of radical Islamic backgrounds.”
President Trump has deployed the US military to America’s southern border as part of a series of moves that have resulted in a sharp decrease in illegal crossings from Mexico. Unlawful migration from Mexico is at its lowest level since 1970.
In Windsor, during Trump’s state visit in September, he told Sir Keir Starmer that Britain should do the same, recommending that he deploy the British armed forces to the Channel to prevent small boat crossings.
Trump and Sir Keir Starmer at Windsor Castle in September
SPLASH
A US State Department spokesman said: “The United States is deeply concerned about rising violent crime and human rights abuses linked to migrants that threatens public safety and social cohesion across the world.
“Mass migration is a human rights issue. It regularly leads to a rise in violent crimes and human rights concerns including human trafficking, sexual assault, displacement of local populations, antisemitic and anti-Christian attacks, and the breakdown of law and order.
“Respect for national sovereignty, human rights, and the rule of law is critical to international cooperation, domestic prosperity, and human flourishing.”
Trump said: “I think your situation is very similar. You have people coming in and I told the prime minister I would stop it, and it doesn’t matter if you call out the military, it doesn’t matter what means you use. It destroys countries from within and we’re actually now removing a lot of the people that came into our country.”
Senior members of the Trump administration have often expressed their fondness for the UK at the same time as their regret about the effects of immigration on Britain, highlighting the grooming gangs scandals in Rotherham, Oxford and other parts of the country.
JD Vance, the vice-president, who spent his summer holiday in the Cotswolds, has described the UK as an “Islamist country” and said this year that immigration had undercut wages.
He said: “If you look in nearly every country, from Canada to the UK, that imported large amounts of cheap labour, you’ve seen productivity stagnate.”
Although Starmer has built a strong diplomatic relationship with Trump, the White House also has longstanding ties with Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform UK, who met the president in the Oval Office when he went to Washington earlier this year.
Sammy Woodhouse, a survivor of the Rotherham grooming gang, said this week she was seeking a meeting with Trump and Vance.
Sammy Woodhouse
ANDREW MCCAREN FOR THE TIMES
In a post on Instagram, Woodhouse, who helped expose the scandal of Pakistani-heritage men preying upon vulnerable girls with Andrew Norfolk, the late Times journalist, said she had “contacted the White House requesting a meeting with the president and JD Vance to discuss grooming gangs in the UK, institutional failures, and the attack on free speech”.
“I’m being censored more now than ever. We cannot leave this to our governments,” she said.