Torture and Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment
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Coalition Demands Action as New Evidence Reveals Abuses of Migrants in El Salvador’s CECOT Prison
Tags Share A coalition of organizations filed damning new evidence today in a legal action seeking an emergency order from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, pending since May 9, and originally filed on behalf of all of the at least 288 migrants transferred from the United States to CECOT, a prison in El Salvador. …
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RFKHR Visit to RAB Secret Detention Site Underscores the Need for Further Accountability and Reform Efforts
Tags Share One year after the July Revolution, Bangladesh’s Interim Government should urgently act to provide meaningful redress to victims of enforced disappearances and other abuses and engage in security sector reform. For eight years, a lawyer named Mir Ahmad BinQuasem, known as Arman, was held by Bangladesh security forces in a secret detention site.…
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Miami Herald: Woman in crisis was stripped, strapped to chair at Florida ICE center, suit says
Tags Share A Colombian woman who was a victim of human trafficking is suing the Baker County ICE detention center in Florida, alleging that officers stripped, restrained, and mocked her while she was in the midst of a mental health crisis. Detained after asking for feminine hygiene products, she was placed in solitary confinement for…
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Advocacy Groups File Federal Lawsuit Seeking Justice for Woman Abused at a Florida Immigration Detention Center
Tags Share Miami, FL, July 17, 2025 – Yesterday, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, the ACLU of Florida, and Gibson Dunn filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of a 33-year-old woman named Ana* who was subject to abuse while she was held at the Baker County Detention Center, a county jail operating as an Immigration…
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Newsweek: More ICE Deaths ‘Inevitable’ as Detention Numbers Soar
Tags Share Deaths in U.S. immigration detention have already matched last year’s total, with months still left in the fiscal year, and advocates warn the toll will rise. Amid record-high detention levels under the Trump administration, RFK Human Rights and the ACLU are sounding the alarm on dangerous, preventable conditions inside ICE facilities. Speaking with…
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CNN: Cuts to DHS watchdogs spark more questions as deportation efforts increase
Tags Share As deaths in immigration detention rise and new facilities rapidly expand, the Trump administration has slashed oversight mechanisms within the Department of Homeland Security. Advocates, including RFK Human Rights, warn that the gutting of key accountability offices mandated by Congress puts lives at risk due to the “inhumane conditions, medical neglect, and abuse…
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Ninety U.S. civil society groups express “deep concern” to FIFA about immigration policies ahead of 2026 World Cup
Tags Share Ninety U.S.-based civil society groups have warned FIFA that it risks becoming a “public relations tool to whitewash the reputation of an increasingly authoritarian government”, in a joint letter that calls on FIFA to publicly urge the US government to reverse immigration policies and practices introduced by the Trump administration. The letter describes…
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Bloomberg: Florida Taps Contractors With No Detention Experience for ‘Alligator Alcatraz’
Tags Share In Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis is rapidly constructing a massive state-run immigrant detention facility nicknamed “Alligator Alcatraz,” designed to hold thousands of people detained under President Trump’s deportation plan. The site, built on an abandoned airstrip in the Everglades, has drawn backlash from human rights advocates and environmentalists. RFK Human Rights’ Anthony Enriquez…
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WIRED: ‘They’re Not Breathing’: Inside the Chaos of ICE Detention Center 911 Calls
Tags Share A new WIRED investigation revealed a surge in 911 calls from ICE detention centers, exposing delayed emergency care, pregnancy complications, and suicide attempts. Many facilities are overcrowded and under-equipped, putting detainees at serious risk. Anthony Enriquez, Vice President of U.S. Advocacy and Litigation at RFK Human Rights, states that the system isolates people…
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Human Rights Groups Urge UN to Intervene on Behalf of Migrants Detained in Notorious Salvadoran Prison
Tags Share Washington, D.C., June 18, 2025 – Last week, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, Boston University School of Law International Human Rights Clinic, the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies, and the Global Strategic Litigation Council for Refugee Rights submitted a report to the United Nations highlighting egregious human rights violations for hundreds of…
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Hundreds Forcibly Disappeared to El Salvadoran Mega-Prison
Four groups, including RFK Human Rights, filed a request seeking precautionary measures from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) against El Salvador for the unlawful detention of hundreds of individuals forcibly and illegally transferred from the United States in recent months.
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US brokers secret torture deal with El Salvador: report to UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants
On February 3, 2025, President Nayib Bukele publicly announced that El Salvador had offered to detain “criminals” sent from the US, including both migrant deportees and US citizens, in exchange for a fee.
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