INTER-AMERICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS HOLDS PUBLIC HEARING ON TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S SYSTEMIC HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS AGAINST IMMIGRANTS
Washington D.C. — A coalition of immigrants’ rights organizations participated today in a public hearing held by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) that examined widespread and escalating human rights and refugee law violations inflicted by the Trump administration in the immigration context.
Our coalition of organizations – including Al Otro Lado, Americans for Immigrant Justice, Amnesty International, the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law, the Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project (Florence Project), Haitian Bridge Alliance (HBA), Hope Border Institute, Human Rights First, Immigrant Defenders Law Center, Instituto para las Mujeres en la Migración (IMUMI), the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP), Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, RAICES, and Refugees International – requested the hearing with IACHR to present evidence of the administration’s unlawful policies and practices that result in systemic disappearances, arbitrary detention in life-threatening conditions, refoulement, and other abuses of immigrants. A U.N. expert on arbitrary detention also participated in the hearing.
Our organizations were pleased that representatives of the U.S. government participated in the hearing, demonstrating the importance of the IACHR in monitoring the human rights conditions in the U.S. for immigrants, asylum seekers, and refugees and of the IACHR serving as a venue for engagement with the government on these critical matters, as domestic avenues for this monitoring and engagement have been largely foreclosed. However, the comments by the government representatives failed to fully address or adequately respond to any of the significant instances of severe human rights abuses that were outlined by our organizations and supported by lengthy evidence.
Earlier this year, our rights groups sounded the alarm to the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Voluntary Disappearances and Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Rapporteurship on Human Mobility in written submissions that documented the human rights catastrophe occurring under this administration, which only continues to escalate. It is deeply concerning that this month Congress passed a law that provides funding for the mass expansion of detention of immigrants, including children, as deaths in detention and human rights abuses in U.S. custody skyrocket.
Following today’s hearing, our organizations respectfully request the IACHR: (1) increase engagement with civil society in the U.S., third countries participating in migration-related agreements with the United States, and directly with the individuals deported and disappeared from the United States or otherwise impacted by U.S. immigration policies, (2) conduct oversight visits to the several areas of extreme concern in the U.S., (3) continue and increase the use of thematic hearings, (4) publish reports about human rights violations uncovered through the work of the IACHR, (5) urge the U.S. government to fully restore access to asylum in accordance with U.S. domestic and international law, (6) encourage the U.S. government to cease the escalated practice of forced transfers to third countries, and (7) encourage the U.S. government to uphold and abide by international human rights and constitutional protections, namely of freedom from arbitrary detention and access to due process, to all people within its jurisdiction.
“The Trump administration has weaponized racist pretext from Inauguration Day onward as a means to further the president’s cowardly and xenophobic agenda,” said Javier Hidalgo, legal director at RAICES. “At RAICES, we are deeply troubled by the administration’s consistent opacity and lack of procedural safeguards, which effectively nullify our ability to ensure due process and fight back against unlawful apprehension and disappearance of people and families, and we are leveraging every tool available to hold this administration accountable to fundamental humanitarian protections that should never be up for debate.”
"Over 200 Venezuelan immigrant men were disappeared by the Trump administration to the Center for Terrorism Confinement (CECOT) in El Salvador for four agonizing months. These fathers, sons, and brothers did not have any direct contact with family or their attorneys, and the human impact of these disappearances tortured the men and their loved ones," said Margaret Cargioli Directing Attorney of Policy and Advocacy at Immigrant Defenders Law Center (ImmDef). “ImmDef's client, Andry, a gay asylum seeker who was imprisoned solely for being suspected of affiliation with the Tren de Aragua gang for crown tattoos with the words "mom" and "dad" honoring the Three Kings Day Catholic holiday. While the Trump administration disappears human beings to countries around the world without due process, it will take all of us, from all over the world, to help free the human beings callously sent to dangerous places such as CECOT and prevent others from experiencing the same cruel fate."
“As discussed in today’s hearing, we continue to be deeply alarmed by the U.S. government’s escalating practice of transferring migrants—including people seeking asylum, children, and individuals already granted humanitarian protection—to third countries where they face torture, detention, and other grave human rights abuses,” said Yannick Gill, Senior Counsel of Refugee Advocacy at Human Rights First. "Many of these transfers happen without any fear screening, and in some cases, in direct violation of U.S. court orders. These unlawful actions endanger lives and are designed to terrorize immigrant communities and force people to give up their rights out of fear.”
“The United States government continues to carry out expedited and summary returns of third country nationals to Mexico, without adequately assessing their protection needs or ensuring their access to due process. This practice—enabled by opaque, unsupervised bilateral agreements—puts thousands of people, including women, girls, boys, and asylum seekers, at risk of serious human rights violations in Mexican territory. IMUMI urges the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to monitor this situation and hold both governments accountable for implementing enforcement policies that prioritize migration control over the protection of life and human dignity”, said Gretchen Kuhner, director of the Institute for Women in Migration (IMUMI).
“The closure of the border to the vulnerable and the systemic denial of access to asylum have only brought more pain to at-risk individuals and families and stress to service providers,” said Jesús de la Torre, Assistant Director for Global Migration at the Hope Border Institute. “But when cruelty is the only solution offered, border communities show a different pathway: One where solidarity transcends boundaries and compassion and faith meet action. The United States government must follow their lead and join them in humanely responding to the call of the stranger knocking in our midst.”
“Statements and reports given to the Commission today reveal the inhumane and unconscionable conditions of detention for immigrants in South Florida and elsewhere, said Denise Noonan Slavin, Senior Advisor at Americans for Immigrant Justice. “Since October of last year, fourteen noncitizens have died in custody. These deplorable detention conditions, including lack of access to medical services, have been a factor in this growing death toll, leaving grief-stricken U.S. citizen and lawful permanent resident family members and friends in its wake. The cruel mass arrest and brutal mandatory detention campaign has reached new heights with the opening of the shamefully named ‘Alligator Alcatraz,’ where immigrants are being disappeared into this dysfunctional detention system without access to counsel.”
"For decades, the Florence Project has served people detained in U.S. immigration facilities, and throughout the years, they have consistently reported substandard conditions of confinement and human rights violations," said Laura St. John, Legal Director at the Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project. "In 2025 alone, our clients have reported air conditioning outrages at the peak of Arizona summer when temperatures can reach 115 degrees, sewage blockages and overflows, being served substandard food, having their medical conditions ignored or dismissed, and being denied access to basic rights such as recreation time. We have also seen individuals with whom we were working die in custody from an apparent lack of appropriate medical care. It is clear from these tragedies and from what our clients tell us that the basic human rights of people who are detained are being violated in these detention centers, and we thank the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights for their attention to these grave injustices."
“The Trump administration’s inhumane treatment of immigrants cannot go unanswered,” said Taylor Koehler, Policy & Programs Staff Attorney at the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law. “Today, we addressed the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to ensure the world sees—unblinkingly—how the U.S. is treating immigrant children and families: subjecting them to deliberate cruelty and prolonged detention in unsafe, degrading conditions. At the same time, the U.S. is engaged in a calculated effort to evade its legal and moral obligations to protect them. We bring these abuses before the Commission because we believe in accountability—and we believe the Trump administration must answer for these and all other abuses against immigrants seeking safety. We thank the Commission for shining a light on these violations and call on the global community to condemn these human rights violations and end any cooperation that enables this cruelty to continue.”
"The United States government is disappearing community members off the streets and detaining them without regard to their safety, their rights, or basic human dignity,” said Maria Fernanda Palacios Herrera, Policy Counsel at the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP). “Whether it be in Guantánamo Bay, El Salvador, or the Everglades, the Trump administration is flaunting and weaponizing human rights abuses against immigrants on a mass scale, and the international community must take action. We are grateful to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights for holding this critical hearing and shedding light on these grave offenses that must stop."
“Today we are sharing with the Commission a testimony from an asylum seeker about their brutal deprivation, mistreatment, and disappearance for weeks in CBP custody, separation from family and denial of access to asylum, and their forced transfer to a third country in February,” said Yael Schacher, Director for the Americas and Europe at Refugees International. "What started at the U.S.-Mexico border and with an undisclosed transfer agreement with Costa Rica is now expanding to detention facilities across the United States and to secret deportation deals with countries around the world. It is crucial that the Commission hold the United State accountable for these human rights violations and that other countries in the region refuse to be complicit.”
“This administration’s mass-arrest-and-detention campaign is an extreme act of an extreme administration, and we see clearly on the ground that it is not about legality or public safety,” said Guerline Jozef, Executive Director at Haitian Bridge Alliance. “The actions of the current, extreme administration should also be understood also as acts of a nation whose extreme immigration system and migration policy have been built around anti-Black, anti-Brown, and anti-other animus for a long time. This extreme immigration system and migration policy is based in a prevention-through-deterrence strategy that targets people who should be protected by the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. Civil society organizations will use every mechanism available to us to demand transparency, dignity, and justice for the people we serve.”
“Under President Trump, widespread human rights violations, including mass deportations, family separations, enforced disappearances under the Alien Enemies Act, and severe restrictions on asylum, have violated international law, torn communities apart, and forced immigrants, including those seeking safety, to live in fear,” said Amy Fischer, Director of Refugee and Migrant Rights at Amnesty International USA. “Immigrants are vital members of our families and communities. The U.S. government must end these abusive policies and practices, restore the right to seek asylum, and uphold the human rights and dignity of all people, regardless of immigration status.”
