The US politician claimed Mr Nowak would be alive if European elites had resisted ‘the politics of self-hatred and the mass invasion of migrants’.
US vice president JD Vance said there should be “righteous anger” in response to the murder of Henry Nowak, which he partly blamed on “the mass invasion of migrants”.
His extraordinary comments triggered a response from Downing Street, which hit out at “people trying to interfere in our democracy and seeking to stir up division on our streets” over Mr Nowak’s case.
The 18-year-old student was handcuffed by police officers who ignored his pleas that he had been stabbed as he lay dying after his killer, Vickrum Digwa, claimed to have been the victim of a racist attack.
In the latest intervention by the Trump administration over the murder, Mr Vance said: “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.
“His murder is as tragic as it is enraging.
“He 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.”
Mr Vance said the response to Mr Nowak’s death should be “righteous anger”.
His call came after violent unrest in Southampton on Tuesday night, near the spot where Mr Nowak was killed.
Mr Vance said: “Henry was far from the first to so needlessly lose his life, and I fear he won’t be the last.
Ideological conditioning and two-tiered policing are glaring symptoms of civilizational decline. They must be rejected across the West.
The United States sends our condolences to the family of Henry Nowak and the people of the United Kingdom at this troubling time.
— Department of State (@StateDept) June 4, 2026
“Each time a life like his is lost, the proper response – the only response – is righteous anger.
“One of the most important things the Trump administration has proven to the world is that stopping the flow of mass migration and defending national sovereignty is a matter of political will and leadership.
“Anything else is an excuse.”
A No 10 spokesperson said: “In recent days we have seen people trying to interfere in our democracy and seeking to stir up division on our streets.
“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.
“Our politics should bring people together even in the most terrible of circumstances. That is who we are as a country.”
Mr Vance’s intervention came after the US State Department linked “two-tier policing” to Mr Nowak’s death.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio’s department said: “Ideological conditioning and two-tiered policing are glaring symptoms of civilizational decline.
“They must be rejected across the West.
“The United States sends our condolences to the family of Henry Nowak and the people of the United Kingdom at this troubling time.”
Downing Street rejected “any suggestion of two-tier policing across the United Kingdom”.
Digwa was given a life sentence with a minimum of 21 years in prison for stabbing Mr Nowak with a ceremonial knife with a 21cm blade, which he carried as part of his Sikh religion.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct is investigating Hampshire Police’s response in Mr Nowak’s case.
