Vice President JD Vance condemned the murder and arrest of 18-year-old Henry Nowak, a British university student stabbed to death by 23-year-old Vickrum Digwa, in a social media post Friday.
“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,” Vance wrote, responding to bodycam footage of Nowak’s final moments. Digwa accused Nowak of racially abusing him and called police to the scene under that pretense, according to Judge William Mousley’s remarks at Digwa’s sentencing. Nowak was handcuffed and arrested by responding officers at the scene and died that night.
Vance continued: “[Nowak’s] 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.” (RELATED: Chilling Video Of Stabbing Victim Bleeding Out In Handcuffs Shows United Kingdom’s Wretched Decline)
SOUTHAMPTON, ENGLAND – JUNE 02: People attend a protest about the police’s handling of the arrest of Henry Nowak at Southampton Central Police Station on June 02, 2026 in Southampton, England. (Photo by Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images)
“Henry was far from the first to so needlessly lose his life, and I fear he won’t be the last. 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,” he added. “Anything else is an excuse.”
“It is because we love the West that we want to preserve it. We love our civilization. We love our country. We love our children. And nobody—nobody—should ever die the way that Henry Nowak died. May God comfort those who loved him, and may God rest his soul.”
Nowak’s murder, and his initial arrest by police, incited outrage and protests in England.
Digwa received a life sentence with a minimum of 21 years for the murder of Nowak and for possession of a bladed article. Digwa’s mother, Kiran Kaur, was found guilty of assisting an offender for attempting to hide her son’s murder weapon. Digwa fatally wounded Nowak with a kirpan, a dagger carried by some Sikhs. Nowak was unarmed, according to Mousley’s sentencing remarks.