Washington, D.C., April 8 – Yesterday, a group of 23 nonprofit organizations published a report urging the United Nations to address the rapidly deteriorating human rights situation of non-citizens in the United States. The report was submitted to the UN Human Rights Council, which is scheduled to formally review U.S. policies and practices in November.

The participating organizations called out the U.S. government’s ongoing violations of non-citizens’ fundamental rights through mass detention, denial of due process, abusive and discriminatory policing, labor exploitation, and suppression of civic space. 

The report cites specific examples such as the U.S. government’s collaboration with private prison companies that are notorious for abuse; the detention and mistreatment of migrant children; the indefinite suspension of the U.S. refugee system and blocking access to lawful asylum at the U.S.-MX border; President Trump’s recent invocation of the Alien Enemies Act to unilaterally detain and disappear immigrants; ICE’s deceptive and invasive methods of arrest; and the escalating retaliation against non-citizens who engage in political speech. 

“The United States routinely punishes people for doing what humans have done throughout history: move in search of a better future,” said Sarah Decker, U.S. staff attorney at Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights. “Our government operates the world’s largest immigrant incarceration regime, caging immigrants, asylum seekers, and longtime community members in conditions that are designed to break them. As the voice of international accountability, we call on the United Nations to denounce these grave human rights violations.”

“The Trump administration has ramped up its assault on the human rights of non-citizens through a host of deliberately cruel, discriminatory, and illegal actions that blatantly violate international human rights laws,” said Mevlüde Akay Alp, Senior Staff Attorney, U.S. Litigation, at the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP). “Whether it is blocking access to the refugee and asylum systems, weaponizing inhumane detention conditions against some of the most vulnerable people seeking safety, or intensifying discriminatory vetting processes to block entry of politically disfavored groups, the U.S. government is violating countless human rights obligations with impunity and must be held accountable.”

“Now, more than ever, it is critical for U.S. civil society and human rights champions around the world to press for adherence to human rights by the United States and other countries,” said Christina Asencio, Director of Research and Analysis, Refugee Protection at Human Rights First. “The U.S. government must be held to account for its flagrant violations of constitutional, statutory, and human rights legal obligations that are threatening the lives of immigrants and asylum seekers, including through disappearances and transfers to potential persecution and torture, resulting in irreparable harm.”

“We welcome the chance to bring light to ongoing human rights violations in the U.S. immigration system,” said Jennifer Prestholdt, Interim Co-Executive Director of The Advocates for Human Rights. “The U.S. has continued to violate the right to seek asylum and refouled individuals to face persecution and torture. Prolonged and arbitrary immigration detention remains common and is often associated with abuses such as solitary confinement, inadequate healthcare, and failure to provide access to counsel. In 2025, the U.S. has also violated protections against enforced disappearance and threatened statelessness, diminishing the rights of migrants and minorities.”

“For asylum-seekers and refugees who have often fled crippling economic deprivation and unimaginable horrors—extreme violence, torture, and devastating war and conflict, often at the hands of their own governments—in search of peace and safety, the United States instead meets them with the brutality and violence they sought to escape,” said Sergio Perez, Executive Director of the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law. “The U.S. must be held accountable for its deliberate disregard of the fundamental human rights of adults and children seeking a better life.”

“The Trump administration is violating the human rights of migrants in myriad ways,” said Laura St. John, Legal Director at the Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project. “Between shutting off all access to asylum at the border, expanding punitive and dangerous immigrant detention, and attacking legal services for detained immigrants, people migrating to the United States are being subject to abuses and violations of their rights on a daily basis. We urge the UN to denounce these severe human rights violations.” 

“Due process is a cornerstone of our Constitution, ensuring that no person is branded or punished on mere accusation alone,” said Gina Amato Lough, Directing Attorney of Public Counsel’s Immigrants’ Rights Project. “The promise of justice requires that individuals have the right to challenge the claims against them. Yet this administration seeks to strip that right away, replacing evidence with presumption and justice with unchecked power. We urge the international community to join us in denouncing the erosion of our domestic and international obligations and in protecting human rights for all.”

The UN Human Rights Council will meet in Geneva from November 3-14, 2025 for its standard Universal Periodic Review (UPR). During the UPR process, each UN Member State undergoes a peer review of its human rights record and receives recommendations for improvement. The last United States review was in 2020 under the first Trump administration. 

The report suggests specific UN recommendations for each U.S. violation, including ending the for-profit immigration detention model, rescinding the bans suspending asylum and refugee admissions and processing, and restoring and ensuring independent oversight in U.S. immigration enforcement. 

The full group of participating organizations includes Amnesty International, AVAN Immigrant Services, Black Alliance for Just Immigration, Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law, Community Justice Project, Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project, Global Rights Advocacy, Haitian Bridge Alliance (HBA), Hope Border Institute, Human Rights First, Immigrant Defenders Law Center (ImmDef), Immigration Services and Legal Advocacy (ISLA), International Refugee Assistance Project, Muslim Advocates, National Immigration Project, Physicians for Human Rights, Public Counsel, Refugee Council USA, Refugees International, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, Southern Border Communities Coalition, The Advocates for Human Rights, and United Stateless.

About Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights
Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights is a nonpartisan, not-for-profit organization that has worked to realize Robert F. Kennedy’s dream of a more just and peaceful world since 1968. In partnership with local activists, RFK Human Rights advocates for key human rights issues, championing change makers and pursuing strategic litigation at home and around the world. And to ensure change that lasts, we foster a social-good approach to business and investment and educate millions of students about human rights and social justice. 

About the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP)
The International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) is a global legal aid and advocacy organization working to create a world where refugees and all people seeking safety are empowered to claim their right to freedom of movement and a path to lasting refuge. Everyone should have a safe place to live and a safe way to get there.

About Global Rights Advocacy (GRA) 
Global Rights Advocacy is a non-profit organization with the mission to provide victims access to international human rights mechanisms through legal defense and advocacy strategies. GRA’s project Migrants Redress Initiative documents detention conditions at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma Washington.

About the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law (CHRCL)
The Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law (CHRCL) is a legal non-profit committed to protecting and advancing the rights of immigrants through legal action, advocacy, and education. Through impact litigation, we challenge unlawful immigration policies to drive systemic change and establish stronger legal protections for immigrants. At the local, state, and federal levels, we advocate for fair and humane policies that uphold the dignity and rights of all immigrants.

The Advocates for Human Rights is a volunteer-based non-governmental organization committed to the impartial promotion and protection of international human rights standards and the rule of law. Established in 1983, The Advocates conducts a range of programs to promote human rights in the United States and around the world. The Advocates is the primary provider of free legal services to low-income asylum seekers in the Upper Midwest region of the United States, advocating for changes in United States immigration policy consistent with international human rights standards and obligations.  

About Human Rights First 
Human Rights First is a nonprofit, nonpartisan international human rights organization founded in 1978 to address the lack of legal protection for refugees and asylum seekers. We work alongside human rights defenders, hold human rights abusers accountable, fight for the conditions that uphold democracy, and provide tools that bring the power of AI and advanced technologies to justice and human rights movements.