The human rights organization’s report listed 12 ‘alarm bells’ of the administration’s practices a year since Donald Trump began his second term.
Amnesty International cites ‘human rights emergency’ under Trump
Amnesty International warns of a ‘human rights emergency’ under President Trump with erosions in immigration enforcement and protest crackdowns.
The United States has quickly eroded human rights safeguards a year into the second Trump administration, according to Amnesty International.
The human rights organization released its report Jan. 20, one year since President Donald Trump took office, saying the nation has adopted increasingly authoritarian practices against citizens and migrants alike. The report cited militarized responses to protests against immigration enforcement, most recently in Minnesota.
“What we are witnessing is a full-blown human rights emergency that has actually emerged pretty quickly over this past year,” Paul O’Brien, executive director of the nonprofit Amnesty International USA, said in an interview. “By shredding norms and by concentrating power, President Trump and his administration are making it harder and harder for anyone to hold him accountable.”
The White House dismissed the report in response to emailed questions.
“Amnesty International clearly suffers from a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in a statement. “No one needs to waste their time reading this report to know that it’s a bunch of left-wing nonsense.”
“Under President Trump’s leadership, America is stronger than ever,” Jackson said, “our border is secure, crime is dropping, the economy is growing, and the best is yet to come!”
Stressing Amnesty’s role as nonpartisan, O’Brien said he doesn’t believe many Americans support cruelty, chaos and attacks on vulnerable groups. Amnesty has issued prior reports on the United States, including on its asylum process and years-long secret detentions at Guantanamo Bay.
The report listed 12 “alarm bells” of the administration’s practices. Amnesty presented attacks on the American legal system, the press and political opponents as tools used by the Trump administration to limit accountability and oversight.
Amnesty also said the administration has limited constitutionally protected rights to free expression, protest and assembly. In a Jan. 21 USA TODAY op-ed, O’Brien said the federal government has pressured universities to suppress student voices. Pro-Palestinian demonstrators have been detained and threatened with deportation for their speech, he wrote.
The report cited deploying military in American cities and militarized law enforcement responses to aid as the administration ramped up immigration enforcement.
On Jan. 7, a federal immigration agent fatally shot Renee Good, a 37-year-old Minneapolis mother, while in her SUV. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem called Good a “domestic terrorist” before an investigation into the shooting. Amnesty called for an independent and impartial investigation into Good’s death. Good’s lawyer described Noem’s characterization as “false.”
The Amnesty report said the administration has disregarded due process, enabling enforced disappearances, illegal expulsions and arbitrary detentions. Amnesty cited federal officials sending over 250 Venezuelan migrants and asylum seekers in March to a notorious Salvadoran mega-prison, where men described sexual assault and torture.
Scapegoating groups, including refugees and migrants, has helped to justify harsh tactics by the administration, the report said. But this didn’t stop with foreign-born populations. The report pointed to attacks on gender identity, sexual and reproductive rights stripping protections for people.
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O’Brien, of Amnesty, said American human rights violations give permission for governments elsewhere.
“Everything that happens in the United States becomes a proving ground for other contexts in our interdependent world,” he said.
The report listed recommendations for state and federal lawmakers to serve as checks on the president. In 2026, the report said a key moment to monitor will be the midterm elections. Early signs, Amnesty said, point to threats on voting rights.
