'Scary and dangerous': Giles Coren explains decision to cancel US holiday after ICE shootings
Food critic Giles Coren has told LBC that the US is "scary and dangerous" after he cancelled his family holiday to the country following the recent ICE shootings.
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Mr Coren grabbed internet attention today when he told readers of his Times column that he was not going to Miami over February half-term because "the United States is no longer a place for decent people".
His comments came after ICU nurse Alex Pretti was killed by federal officers in Minneapolis on Saturday.
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This morning I cancelled our family holiday to America. I cannot in good conscience take my wife and children there and tell them they will be safe. The United States is no longer a place for decent people.https://t.co/i8xQ4CxUcK
— Giles Coren (@gilescoren) January 26, 2026
Mr Pretti became the second person to be killed by federal officers in the state in the last month alone, following the shooting of mother-of-three Renée Good.
Explaining his decision to LBC's Tom Swarbrick at Drive, Mr Coren said: "This was not disingenuous. America to me seems scary and dangerous. I don't really understand it anymore. I felt strongly enough and I felt it was worth making the stand."
The columnist said his 12-year-old son has always been an anxious traveller and had always been against their previous trips to the States.
Having spent the last few years convincing his children that America was a safe place, Mr Coren said these fatal ICE shootings had made him change his mind.
"It's an atmosphere where i am constantly telling them it's not dangerous, but they are not that keen on going," he said.
"Then, there was that killing ten days ago and the killing on Saturday. I started to think I don't actually like going to a country with the death penalty, plus you could get shot by a cop or a lunatic.
"Now we are in a situation where they have got these half-trained ICE agents, roaming liberal cities and shooting innocent people in the head while they are lying on the ground.
"So i thought we can go to Northumberland instead in the rain and no one is going to die."
But Mr Coren still had hopes of returning to America one day and said he believed "things will get better".
Clarifying his comment about the US not being for "decent people", the critic said: "I don't mean that people there are not decent. I mean decent people could go there and get shot. So i am saying it's not safe."
His comments came after Melania Trump issued a call for unity after widespread protests descended on Minneapolis following the latest fatal shooting.
US President Donald Trump has also made efforts to reduce tensions in the Midwestern state in recent days, holding a “productive call” with Governor Tim Walz on Monday.