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Telegraph
8 hours ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
JD Vance: Europe is engaging in civilisational suicide
JD Vance, the US vice president, has accused Europe of engaging in 'civilisational suicide' by refusing to control its borders. Taking particular issue with Germany, which he has criticised before, he said some European nations were both 'unable' and 'unwilling' to stem the flow of migration. Mr Vance's comments are the latest in which the vice president has framed European values and policies as being at-odds with those held by the Trump administration, while also touching on issues that have driven support for European hard-Right parties. 'The Europeans annoy me sometimes. Yes, I disagree with them on certain issues,' he said in an interview with Fox News. The 40-year-old said the idea of Western civilisation has its roots in Europe and led to the founding of the US, but added: 'Europe is at risk of engaging in civilisational suicide.' 'If you have a country like Germany, where you have another few million immigrants come in from countries that are totally culturally incompatible with Germany, then it doesn't matter what I think about Europe,' he continued. 'Germany will have killed itself, and I hope they don't do that, because I love Germany and I want Germany to thrive.' The interview with Mr Vance came as Donald Trump completed a five-day trip to Scotland, where he met with Sir Keir Starmer. The US president told the Prime Minister he would have a better chance of holding back the threat posed by Nigel Farage and his Reform UK party if he made it a priority to lower taxes and tackle immigration. 'Keep people safe and with money in their pockets and you win elections,' said Mr Trump Mr Trump was re-elected with a vow to place a crack-down on illegal immigration at the centre of his second term's work. Since his election victory, he has effectively shut the US's southern border with Mexico and ordered the round-up of undocumented migrants and deporting them. In cities such as Los Angeles, he sent in the National Guard and US Marines to support immigration agents carrying out the round-ups. At the same time community leaders and activists say the vast majority of those being detained are not hardened criminals as Mr Trump has claimed but day labourers and farmers In Britain, figures such as Mr Farage have repeatedly accused Sir Keir of failing to follow a similar course. Following an unprecedented success for Mr Farage's party in local elections in May, Sir Keir promised a major crackdown over the next four years saying Britain risked becoming 'an island of strangers'. 'Make no mistake, this plan means migration will fall. That is a promise,' Sir Keir said. 'If we do need to take further steps... then mark my words, we will.' 'Free speech across Europe is in retreat' The comments of Mr Vance echo what he said in February in a speech at the Munich Security Conference. He accused some countries of limiting free speech, citing Adam Smith-Connor, a British pro-life campaigner who was convicted for breaching a buffer zone outside an abortion clinic. 'Free speech in Britain and across Europe was in retreat,' he said at the time, before going on to back Germany's Alternative für Deutschland party that has been classified as an extremist group by the German government. The Munich address was viewed by many European countries as the moment America signalled it was willing to put an end to long-standing trade and security arrangements, agreed at the end of the Second World War. Olaf Scholz, the then German chancellor, criticised Mr Vance and accused him of trying to interfere in his country's election. 'That is not done, certainly not among friends and allies,' he said. When Sir Keir met with Mr Trump and the vice president in the Oval Office earlier this year, he pushed back at the criticism, saying 'We've had free speech for a very long time, it will last a long time, and we are very proud of that.' Mr Vance has been widely tipped to be among those likely to seek the Republican presidential nomination in 2028. Other hopefuls include Marco Rubio, the current secretary of state, who ran against Mr Trump in 2016 and lost badly. Asked about who he viewed as a potential successor, Mr Trump told NBC News in May that there were several contenders. 'I think [Vance is] a fantastic, brilliant guy,' he said. 'Marco [Rubio] is great. There's a lot of them that are great. I also see tremendous unity. But certainly you would say that somebody's the VP, if that person is outstanding, I guess that person would have an advantage.'
Yahoo
23-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
'Sensitive' Memo Reveals How Many Border Agents Trump Is Enlisting In Immigration Raids
The Trump administration has diverted roughly 2,000 officers and agents from the country's ports and borders so they can support immigration raids in U.S. cities, according to an internal homeland security memo viewed by HuffPost and labeled 'sensitive.' The shift in money and personnel reflects the White House's desire to juice the number of deportations of people in the country without authorization ― even if it means sapping manpower normally devoted to countering terrorism and drug trafficking along the borders and at ports of entry. The extra bodies have come from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, or CBP, an agency within the Department of Homeland Security. CBP includes the U.S. Border Patrol and is a separate entity from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency leading President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown. As of late June, CBP was lending out more than 1,100 of its 19,000 border patrol agents and more than 800 of its 26,000 port officers to ICE, according to the document. CBP doesn't normally take part in immigration enforcement away from the country's ports and borders, at least on a large scale. The agency's core responsibilities are to combat terrorism and transnational crime, safeguard the borders, and facilitate lawful travel and trade, but it is now taking part in what Trump has promised to be 'the largest deportation program in American history.' Gil Kerlikowske, who ran CBP under former President Barack Obama, said redirecting these resources could leave the country vulnerable at its ports and borders. Trump has made a big deal about fentanyl coming into the U.S. from other countries and even used the issue as a justification for his trade war. 'The ports of entry ― that's where the fentanyl comes in,' Kerlikowske said. 'If you've taken 800 agents off of the ports of entry, that can cause a significant problem.' Kerlikowske also said he was worried about officers trained to work in ports and along borders suddenly taking part in urban operations and coming face to face with crowds. Armed border patrol agents swept through MacArthur Park in Los Angeles last month, prompting children to flee, according to local news reports. The shift in personnel reflects the White House's desire to juice the number of deportations – even if it means sapping manpower normally devoted to countering terrorism and drug trafficking. 'Their experience and training and expertise is on the border,' Kerlikowske said of border patrol agents. 'Not policing and patrolling an urban area.' Nearly 300 people from the border patrol's special operations group were being deployed to support ICE operations, including 'fugitive apprehensions, surveillance, operational planning, entry tactics and task force participation,' according to the document. Most of the CBP personnel were being used in local ICE operations in Miami, New Orleans, Boston, Nashville, San Antonio, Houston, Seattle and other cities around the country. Nearly 200 were enlisted in what the document refers to as 'Operation Los Angeles,' the series of immigration raids that set off mass protests in California last month. The reporter of this story can be reached on Signal at davejamieson.99 or via email at Another 600 had been lent out for 'Operation At Large,' the nationwide ICE plan to round up undocumented immigrants. The agency was also providing 32 aircraft and 118 pilots and agents from its air-and-marine unit, which is responsible for interdicting drugs, weapons and other illicit cargo along the borders. Those personnel have been helping to move detainees from one facility to another as they await deportation. The unit only has around 1,800 agents and support staff. The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday. The Trump administration hopes to hire 10,000 more ICE agents over the next five years, but it could continue to siphon staff from the ports and borders due to the time it takes to hire. The Republican-controlled Congress recently pumped billions of dollars of new funding into immigration enforcement, including it as part of their tax reform package known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The legislation steers $45 billion toward immigration detention facilities and another $30 billion toward ICE enforcement. But historically, it has taken about half a year to hire an officer to work on deportations. Even if the administration can cut that time down significantly, it still takes months to get new officers trained and onboarded. In the meantime, Trump aides are eager to show the president they are doing whatever they can to further his deportation campaign. The CBP document boasts of the way the agency has diverted agents and officers away from their normal jobs so they can help with raids and detentions. The ports of entry – that's where the fentanyl comes in. If you've taken 800 agents off of the ports of entry, that can cause a significant Kerlikowske, former commissioner of CBP The U.S. Border Patrol 'has expended great resources and manpower to assist ICE to accomplish the presidential mandates that have been set,' the document states. It notes that the loaner program has involved 25 field offices and come at a cost of $20 million as of late June. Although immigration raids are most commonly associated with ICE, customs and border personnel have become a common sight at roundups in California and elsewhere. Masked border patrol agents were just seen making arrests in a Home Depot parking lot in Sacramento on Thursday, according to local news reports. The administration has tried to hype the criminal backgrounds of those it's arresting and deporting, but most appear to only have infractions for traffic or immigration offenses on their records. The clampdown on undocumented workers is growing increasingly unpopular among voters, according to surveys. In a recent CNN poll, 55% of respondents said Trump had gone too far with his deportation campaign, 10 points higher than in February. Kerlikowske predicted that the negative polling and any economic hit due to deportations could prompt the administration to pull back on its raids and shift resources back toward the ports and borders. 'You can probably guess that if they get some numbers they deem sufficient by the end of the year, this is all going to fade off,' he said.
The Sun
22-07-2025
- Politics
- The Sun
Angry mums & dads protesting about immigration are NOT extremists – leftie elite who forced this experiment upon us are
IF YOU want a sense of the rapidly deteriorating and darkening mood in Britain right now, just look at what's been happening in towns outside London recently. On Monday night in Diss, Norfolk, protesters gathered outside an asylum-seeker hotel chanting, 'We want our country back'. 6 6 6 The previous Saturday in Dover, locals held a protest on the seafront against the spiralling number of small boats crossing the Channel. And Epping, Essex, has witnessed several larger protests after an illegal immigrant from Ethiopia, who recently arrived on a small boat, allegedly sexually assaulted a young local girl. The establishment is already falling over itself to dismiss the protests as 'far-right' and 'extremist'. But I would put it to you they reflect something else entirely. What they are tapping into is a groundswell of entirely legitimate anger and frustration among a population that is sick and tired of having to live with mass uncontrolled immigration, broken borders, shocking acts of sexual violence against women and girls, and a political class — represented by Keir Starmer — that is tone-deaf to the mood of the nation. Clearly, it goes without saying that we all reject violence and racism. If protesters break the law — if they incite racial hatred — then I would be among the first to say loudly and clearly they should be arrested and jailed. But something else is clearly taking place in this country — a country in which millions of hard-working, tax-paying, law-abiding citizens are sick and tired of having policies they never voted for imposed on them from above. Gag our media and keep truth hidden Let me say something that will be very controversial in Westminster, Oxford, Cambridge and Brighton but will make total sense among this forgotten majority. The extremists in this country are not the mums, dads and grandparents who are peacefully protesting in places like Epping. The extremists are the politicians who insist on subjecting us to mass uncontrolled immigration, and spiralling crime, especially among migrants with no right to be here in the first place. At least the penny seems to have dropped for Deputy PM Angela Rayner, who yesterday acknowledged out of control immigration was having a 'profound impact on society'. Just look at what really lies behind the sudden protests in Epping. While the initial spark was the alleged sexual assault of a local schoolgirl by an Ethiopian asylum-seeker named Hadush Kebatu, the real reason people's frustrations are now bubbling over can arguably be found elsewhere. They can be found in the very deliberate and very irresponsible policies in Westminster that are pushing our once great country into managed decline, if not towards total collapse. Look at what we learned about Britain in the past seven days alone. Our politicians have been secretly importing thousands of Afghans into the country while using controversial laws to gag our media and keep the truth hidden from the public, who will now have to pay billions of pounds in costs for this scandal. The very same politicians, in other words, who ever since the Southport atrocity have berated the British people for suffering from 'misinformation' while, at the very same time, openly misinforming their own people. Then we learned the state can, when it wants to, suddenly find more than 2,000 homes for the Afghan migrants while thousands of our own military veterans remain homeless and many more British families remain at risk of homelessness. If our politicians can suddenly find a solution to this problem, many hard-working Brits will have wondered this week why they can't find similar solutions to the problems affecting British people. At the same time, we also learned we are being forced to pay not only £15billion over the next decade on hotel and accommodation costs for the illegal small boat migrants. We are also stumping up some £12billion a year in Universal Credit welfare payments for up to 1.3million foreigners, more than half of whom are not even working. And all this amid what is the worst cost-of-living crisis since the Second World War. How is this fair or right, many will also have asked this week? Even worse, we only learned about these shocking costs because independent campaigners forced the state to tell us about them, after submitting freedom of information requests. Until they did this, the state clearly did not want us to know about these costs. Nor, by the way, did the state want you to know that foreign nationals, like the Syrian migrant who repeatedly raped a 12-year-old girl in Birmingham, are more than three times as likely as British nationals to commit rape and sexual assault, with Eritreans and Afghans topping the list of the most likely offenders. That information, too, had to be forced out of the state. Then we learned the establishment in this country somehow thinks it's appropriate, after the truly awful rape gang scandal, to give an MBE to a Muslim man who called on his fellow Muslims to boycott authorities over that same rape gang scandal. Muhbeen Hussain was given the prestigious honour for 'services to cohesion' despite video footage circulating online showing him openly calling for Muslims to boycott state institutions they perceive to be unfairly targeting their communities. Is this really the kind of message the UK state wants to send? That if you organise a boycott of our public institutions, in the name of religion, you will be rewarded? 6 6 And then we were given the hideous sight of Labour MP Jess Phillips once again appearing on national media to try to downplay the now unavoidable fact we have a specific problem with rape gang activity in Pakistani-Muslim communities. That is something that is perfectly obvious to most people in this country but which the Labour Party, which relies heavily on Muslims for votes, continues to obfuscate and downplay. When the Labour minister was asked about this problem, Phillips displayed the exact same mentality that enabled the rape gangs to begin with: denial. While she dodged the question and blabbered about 'all men', reflecting the same bias that led middle-class #MeToo liberal feminists to say nothing at all about the rape gangs, the British people were reminded yet again about the fact that Labour just do not get it — they refuse to acknowledge the truth. Then, as if to hammer home the point, the British people learned about the truly shocking case of Courtney Wright, a British schoolgirl who had been sent home by her school after choosing to wear a Spice Girls -style Union Jack dress to the school's 'culture day'. And as The Sun reports today, dozens of pupils were put into isolation at a second school for sporting Union Jacks on another so-called 'culture day'. Far from isolated incidents, these are just the latest examples of what I call 'two-tier multiculturalism' — a regime that encourages every minority group to protect and promote their identities while telling the British majority they cannot have an identity of their own. Tear up the social fabric From Epping to Dover, the reason why so many Brits are utterly fed-up is not only because of the shocking sight of more than 170,000 illegal migrants flooding into their country on small boats but because they can also sense how their very identity as British people is being eroded and deconstructed in the name of celebrating a bland, globalist, meaningless 'diversity'. If the only thing that defines your identity is that you celebrate other people then it is the same as saying you have no identity of your own. Yet as every British person knows in their heart to be true, there is something remarkably special, unique, and distinctive about coming from these islands — no matter how much politicians deny it. Is all this chaos and carnage behind why so many are now peacefully protesting what is happening to their local communities and country? Is it not true that a very large majority of people in this country, like those people in Epping, want the very opposite of what their hapless leaders are imposing on them from above — masses of uncontrolled, unvetted migration that is making us less safe? What, I ask again, did our politicians and the state really expect? Because, as I say, I'd suggest to you that the real extremists in Britain are not the mums, dads, and grandparents who are peacefully protesting the transformation of the country. No. The real extremists are all those politicians and state bureaucrats who think it is somehow acceptable or justifiable to impose this radical experiment — and that's exactly what it is, an experiment — on a people who never asked for it, nor ever voted for it. The real extremists are the elite minority who are using their power to impose their will and tear up the social fabric that has long held this country together. It is the ruling class in this country, far more than the British people, who are responsible for the latest scenes in Epping, Dover, and Norfolk, and may soon be responsible for many more scenes to come if they do not change course and listen to the darkening mood out there in the country. 6
Telegraph
22-07-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
The Daily T: Suella Braverman — Sunak didn't want to stop the boats. We need net zero migration
The former home secretary, Suella Braverman, is the special guest on today's edition of The Daily T. The Conservative MP and ex-attorney general explains why she thinks it's time for the UK to leave the ECHR, how it's thwarted our ability to control our borders and undermines the sovereignty of Parliament. Braverman also talks through the frustration she experienced at being 'powerless' whilst running the Home Office amid a 'lack of political will' to get a grip on illegal migration. She also takes aim at former prime minister Rishi Sunak's 'broken promises' on stopping the boats, and outlines why there could be 'some truth' in Nigel Farage's belief that Britain is on the verge of societal collapse. The former home secretary also explains why she remains committed to the Conservatives despite there still being 'arrogance and complacency' within the party, as well as why she feels no sympathy for Rachel Reeves and her belief that Keir Starmer is 'incompetent' and 'a fool'.
Asharq Al-Awsat
21-07-2025
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Egypt: ‘Volatile Borders' Continue to Pose Terror Threats
A preemptive security operation recently carried out by Egypt's Interior Ministry has highlighted growing concerns over the country's volatile borders, which security sources say are being exploited by armed groups to stage attempted 'hostile operations' inside Egypt. The ministry announced on Sunday that it had foiled a planned terrorist attack by the outlawed Hasm movement, an armed wing of the banned Muslim Brotherhood. According to the statement, one of the group's operatives, trained in advanced military tactics abroad, attempted to infiltrate Egypt illegally to carry out sabotage activities. A security source revealed to Asharq Al-Awsat that the suspect, who was killed in a raid along with other militants, had previously trained in Libya and had also resided in Sudan. 'He crossed into Egypt illegally before planning the attack,' the source said. The Interior Ministry said it had received intelligence indicating that Hasm's leadership, currently operating from Türkiye, was preparing to revive the group's militant activities, targeting economic and security installations across the country. This information follows a video posted online two weeks ago, allegedly by Hasm, in which masked gunmen are shown conducting live-fire drills in a desert environment, accompanied by a written statement threatening new attacks. Security officials say parts of the video were compiled from old footage, but some clips showed recent training sessions in Libya, prompting intensified surveillance and tracking efforts. The ministry stated that the raid on the militant hideout was met with heavy gunfire from the suspects, leading to a firefight in which the terrorists were killed. Tragically, a civilian passerby was also killed, and a police officer was injured while attempting to rescue the wounded man. Former Interior Ministry spokesperson Gen. Hany Abdel Latif praised the operation as a 'significant success,' noting Egypt's sustained security dominance. However, he cautioned that 'this does not mean terrorism has been eradicated. It remains a threat, both here and globally.' Abdel Latif pointed to Egypt's 'volatile borders', particularly with Libya, Sudan, and Gaza, as persistent vulnerabilities. 'These frontiers provide opportunities for extremists to infiltrate and plot attacks,' he said. He warned that the Hasm movement - despite being weakened – continues to have active operatives and ideological remnants capable of regrouping. 'We must remain vigilant. The threat is ongoing, and no warning should be underestimated,' he underlined.
