The leader of the poll-topping anti-mass migration Sweden Democrats (SD) party Jimmie Åkesson has written an opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal strongly criticising those who dismissed out of hand President Trump’s remarks on the dire security and migration situation.

Lamenting the rise in violence and anti-Semitism that has accompanied the migrant wave that saw Sweden take more migrants per captia than any other European nation, Mr Åkesson remarked that sex crimes in the country had doubled in a year. Reeling off a list of damages done to Sweden by mass migration in the opinion piece co-authored with fellow SD politician Mattias Karlsson, Mr Åkesson urged America to take heed and not repeat the same mistakes of immigration and cultural capitulation made in Europe.

Mr Åkesson wrote:

When President Trump last week raised Sweden’s problematic experience with open-door immigration, skeptics were quick to dismiss his claims. Two days later an immigrant suburb of Stockholm was racked by another riot. No one was seriously injured, though the crowd burned cars and hurled stones at police officers. Mr. Trump did not exaggerate Sweden’s current problems. If anything, he understated them. Sweden took in about 275,000 asylum-seekers from 2014-16—more per capita than any other European country. Eighty percent of those who came in 2015 lacked passports and identification, but a majority come from Muslim nations. Islam has become Sweden’s second-largest religion. In Malmö, our third-largest city, Mohamed is the most common name for baby boys. The effects are palpable, starting with national security. An estimated 300 Swedish citizens with immigrant backgrounds have traveled to the Middle East to fight for Islamic State. Many are now returning to Sweden and are being welcomed back with open arms by our socialist government. In December 2010 we had our first suicide attack on Swedish soil, when an Islamic terrorist tried to blow up hundreds of civilians in central Stockholm while they were shopping for Christmas presents. Thankfully the bomber killed only himself.

Read more at the Wall Street Journal.

Mr Åkesson’s Sweden Democrats are presently riding high in the polls, with the next general election expected in September 2018. While the governing Social Democrat party has held the lead position in polls for much of the past year, the Sweden Democrats, buoyed by their unique position as opponents of the mass migration that has so rapidly transformed Swedish society have often enjoyed a close second place.

The position could be crucial after the 2018 election if the SD are able to enter into coalition with other right-wing parties and freeze the left out of power, even if Prime Minister Löfven’s Social Democrats are able to command fractionally more support.