Donald Trump used his speech to the UN General Assembly to claim that immigrants want to establish Sharia in London.
Addressing the world body, the President railed against “illegal aliens” changing the make-up of countries in the West, saying leaders needed to take control.
European countries were “going to hell” because of migration, he said. Each nation has its own uniqueness which needs protecting and they have the right to defend their borders, he added. “You’re doing it because you want to be nice," he said. "You want to be politically correct and you’re destroying your heritage. It's time to end the failed experiment of open borders. Your countries are going to hell."
He claimed the UN was "funding an assault on western countries and their borders". He added: "Europe is in serious trouble. They have been invaded by a force of illegal aliens like nobody's ever seen before."
After saying he would not name anywhere in particular, he then singled out London and its “terrible” mayor for failing to tackle the issue, referring to Sadiq Khan, the first Muslim mayor of a western capital.
“I look at London, where you have a terrible mayor, terrible, terrible mayor, and it has been so changed. So changed. Now they want to go to Sharia law,” he said, just days after visiting the UK capital on his second state visit. "But you’re in a different country, you can’t do that."
About 15 per cent of London's population is Muslim.
Mr Trump has repeatedly attacked Mr Khan since 2015, when the Labour politician condemned the then presidential hopeful’s suggestion that Muslims should be banned from travelling to the US.
Mr Khan’s office said it would not “dignify” Mr Trump’s “appalling and bigoted comments” by responding.
A representative for the London mayor said: “London is the greatest city in the world, safer than major US cities, and we’re delighted to welcome the record number of US citizens moving here.”
Before Mr Trump’s visit, Mr Khan said the President was boosting “divisive, far-right politics”.
“President Donald Trump and his coterie have perhaps done the most to fan the flames of divisive, far-right politics around the world in recent years,” he wrote in an opinion piece. “When he came to the UK on his first state visit, I highlighted how the President had deliberately used xenophobia, racism and ‘otherness’ as an electoral tactic.”
Mr Trump has launched his own crackdown on immigration at the US-Mexico border and pushed hardline domestic immigration policies.
“Once we started detaining and deporting everyone who crossed the border – and removing illegal aliens from the United States – they simply stopped coming,” he said.
The President called his efforts a “humanitarian act”, arguing that it saved people who might have otherwise died trying to cross the US border illegally.
Mr Trump accused the UN of “funding an assault” on western countries’ borders. The best example, he said, was “the number one political issue of our time, the crisis of uncontrolled migration”.
Second term
Mr Trump boasted of his second-term foreign policy achievements and lashed out at the world body as a feckless institution.
In his wide-ranging speech:
- He trumpeted himself as a peacemaker who had stopped seven “unstoppable” wars.
- He threatened to hit Russia with “a very strong round of powerful tariffs” if President Vladimir Putin does not come to the table to end the war in Ukraine.
- He demanded Hamas immediately release all hostages living and dead that it is holding in Gaza, saying the time for partial releases is over.
- He said after he returned to office, he sent Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a letter pledging “full co-operation” in exchange for Iran suspending its nuclear programme. “The regime’s answer was to continue their constant threats to their neighbours and US interests throughout the region, and some great countries that are right nearby,” he said.
