GENEVA (AP) — A U.N.-backed panel of independent experts focused on racial discrimination says racist hate speech by President Donald Trump and other U.S. political leaders and a U.S. crackdown on immigrants have led to “serious human rights violations.”
The Geneva-based Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination issued a decision on Wednesday urging the United States to suspend immigration enforcement operations in and near schools, hospitals and religious institutions.
The decision, taken under the Commission’s Early Warning Protocol, is not legally binding but is intended to allow a country, in this case the United States, to meet its international commitments.
The committee said it was also “deeply disturbed” by the use of derogatory and dehumanizing language against immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers. Committee members attributed the reported rise in racial discrimination to “racist hate speech” directed at these groups, but did not point to any specific data. Beyond rhetoric, there are concerns about the impact of politicians and other public figures using stereotypes to incite hate crimes and discrimination.
“Politicians and influential public figures at the highest levels, particularly the president, may incite racial discrimination and hate crimes by portraying them as criminals or a liability,” the commission said in a release.
When Trump, along with Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama, took office, the United Nations condemned systemic racism, hatred and discrimination. But this time the panel singled out Trump’s speech as part of the problem. They didn’t specifically target Biden or Obama with their comments.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection have also been named for racially profiling people of color and conducting seemingly arbitrary identity checks.
“This assessment from the United Nations is as useless as their broken escalator, and their extreme bias continues to demonstrate why no one takes them seriously,” said White House spokesperson Olivia Wales, who pointed to Trump’s work in reducing crime and securing U.S. borders.
“No one cares what the biased United Nations so-called ‘experts’ think because Americans live in a safer and stronger country than ever before,” she added.
The committee claimed in its report that the United States had failed to fulfill its obligations as a party to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, adopted by the United Nations in 1965. The report noted that incidents involving “discriminatory, dangerous and violent methods” have killed eight people in the past three months, including two U.S. citizens Alex Pretti and Renee Good who protested in Minnesota. Pretty and Goode were each shot and killed by federal agents during a subway surge operation.
The panel said the use of deadly force in both cases amounted to “arbitrary deprivation of life and other serious violations of international human rights law”.
Detained migrants, refugees and asylum seekers should also be treated humanely and equally without discrimination in accordance with the Convention. However, the report states that these groups are deprived of basic essential services, including health care, education and social support.
The committee called on the United States to review whether its immigration policies are consistent with international human rights law. This should include suspending immigration enforcement operations, including around schools, religious institutions and hospitals, repealing “discriminatory measures” related to asylum procedures, and putting in place safeguards so that immigration agencies cannot access personal data in government databases.
However, it is unclear whether the United Nations can actually implement these proposals.
This is not the first time the group has criticized racism and discrimination in the United States. The police shooting of Michael Brown and other victims in 2014 sparked widespread Black Lives Matter protests, and then again in 2020 after the murder of George Floyd.
Also in 2020, another UN human rights body heard similar arguments from the Special Rapporteur on contemporary racism, discrimination and xenophobia.
The Trump administration has made mass deportations a key part of its second-term agenda and has launched a wave of immigration restrictions and increased enforcement in cities across the country. The crackdown has led to a surge in immigration arrests and critics have grown increasingly concerned about the government’s tactics in detention and enforcement.
The government cited security and economic concerns as justification for the crackdown.
The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is composed of 18 independent experts from around the world who oversee the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. The United States ratified the convention in 1994.
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Don reported from Phoenix. Associated Press writer Collin Binkley in Washington contributed.
