A BLUEPRINT FOR FARAGE'S BRITAIN

CHRISTOPHER BUCKTIN sees Trump's Immigration & Customs Enforcement officers in action

- BY CHRISTOPHER BUCKTIN

IN the dead of night, unmarked vans sweep into neighbourhoods.

Armed officers pour out, faces masked, weapons ready.

They don't ask questions. They don't show proof. They just take people. We watched it unfold in Chicago. On these streets, once ruled by gang boss Al Capone, a new mob now spreads, only this one is backed by the government.

Families are torn apart in an instant. Fathers are dragged away in handcuffs as children scream.

Young men are slammed against walls. All those seized have their pockets emptied, then they are shackled. Older men, some in their 70s, are bundled into vans as if they were nothing more than cargo. This is life in Donald Trump's America.

And with Nigel Farage's Reform UK riding high in the polls, its leader threatening mass deportations, some fear these are scenes that could one day soon be played out in Britain, too.

US protesters gave us the warning as we visited the Broadview Detention Center in Chicago.

Sarah Smith, 27, told us: "Don't be fooled by Farage's talk. Trump told us the same lies that it was about safety, about jobs. What it really does is divide neighbour from neighbour and turn your country into a police state."