'If the colour of your skin is different to Trump’s… expect a tap on the shoulder from ICE': Sadiq Khan reignites war of words with US president
London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan has reignited his war of words with Donald Trump as he blasted the 'aggressiveness and intimidation' of ICE agents in the US.
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Sir Sadiq's comments come after mother-of-three Renee Good was shot dead in her car by an ICE agent last week, sparking huge protests.
In the wake of the shooting, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, demanded ICE leave the city. He posted on Twitter on Wednesday: “No matter what led up to this incident, the situation we are seeing in our city is not sustainable."
Donald Trump has threatened to invoke a rarely used US law to quell the unrest.
He wants to invoke the Insurrection Act - a 19th Century law that allows active-duty military personnel to be deployed for law enforcement duties inside the US.
Trump said he would aim to use the law if Minnesota officials failed to stop the "professional agitators and insurrectionists".
Asked on LBC this morning whether he had sent messages of support to the Mayor of Minneapolis, Sir Sadiq said Mr Frey's track record of speaking up for minorities was “very impressive.”
He said: “If you’re a person of colour, if you’re somebody who wasn’t born in America, or even if you were born in America, the colour of your skin is different to President Trump’s - you’re nervous about this tap on the shoulder… or worse, as we saw in Minneapolis.
“This anxiety is spreading across many cities across America. One of the reasons we sent solidarity to the Mayor is we think he’s shown really good leadership speaking for those people who are a bit nervous and anxious to put their head above the parapet.
“The way ICE are behaving, the aggressiveness, the intimidation - we saw the loss of life most recently - is really scary. The idea that British politicians would want to emulate that and bring a sort of British ICE to the UK should worry us all.”
There is no love lost between Sadiq Khan and Donald Trump.
The pair most recently clashed in December when Trump branded Sir Sadiq a “horrible, disgusting, vicious and incompetent” Mayor.
Mr Trump hit out at the London Mayor during a wide-ranging interview on the state of Europe, immigration and the war in Ukraine.
The US president claimed Sir Sadiq has only been able to win elections in London because of increasingly large amounts of immigration.
He said: “I mean, look at… your mayor of London. He’s a disaster. He’s a disaster."
“He’s got a totally different ideology of what he’s supposed to have. And he gets elected because so many people have come in.”
The president added: “He’s a horrible mayor. He’s an incompetent mayor, but he’s a horrible, vicious, disgusting mayor. I think he’s done a terrible job. London’s a different place.”
"I think President Trump has shown he is racist, he is sexist, he is misogynistic and he is Islamophobic," Sir Sadiq told Sky News in September.