Washington, D.C., April 16, 2026 – Last week, a coalition of 23 nonprofit organizations submitted a joint report to the United Nations outlining the United States’ ongoing human rights violations against immigrants and asylum seekers. The report, which was submitted to the UN Human Rights Council ahead of the United States’ rescheduled Universal Periodic Review (UPR), documents the US government’s escalating abuses of non-citizens and citizens  – including increased killings by immigration enforcement agents; record-level deaths in immigration detention; overcrowded and inhumane conditions within ICE facilities; the renewed use of family detention; third-country expulsions; nationality-based entry restrictions; and growing DHS surveillance.

In November 2025, the United States made the unprecedented decision to boycott its review. In light of the US government’s refusal to participate, the UPR has been rescheduled for November 2026. 

“After refusing to participate in the UN’s original review last fall, the Trump administration has doubled down on its anti-immigrant campaign,” said Sarah Decker, senior staff attorney at the Robert & Ethel Kennedy Human Rights Center. “The US government continues to blatantly disregard basic human rights, from detaining pregnant women to denying unaccompanied children access to an attorney. But no matter how many times the United States tries to avoid accountability, the international community is watching – and we will not stop demanding accountability.”

Held regularly since 2008, the UN’s Human Rights Council conducts a UPR of each member state every four and a half years. These formal peer reviews are a platform for international accountability, with civil society organizations and nonprofits submitting reports on relevant human rights issues and violations. Following the review, other UN member states make recommendations to the country under review based on civil society reports and interactions with government representatives.

“Our report holds a needed mirror up to the administration, detailing how it’s deliberately tearing apart families and communities across the U.S. through systematic discrimination against Black and Brown noncitizens,” said Sadaf Hasan, Staff Attorney at Muslim Advocates. “To achieve its white supremacist aims, the administration is pulling from every page in its authoritarian playbook: from carceral brutality and unlawful deportations to revamped Muslim and African bans that not only bar entries but freeze and gut access to lawful immigration benefits for millions of community members within the U.S. It’s not just racism fueling the policies but repression of protected political speech, including expression defending Palestinian human rights. International scrutiny and condemnation of these harms are critical now more than ever.” 

“When the Trump administration refused to face the UN’s human rights review last fall, it sent a clear message: it has no intention of answering for its abuses against immigrants, including record detention numbers and deaths in custody, expulsion of asylum seekers without due process, and children caged in facilities with rotten food and limited access to lawyers or adequate healthcare,” said Ann Garcia, Senior Staff Attorney at the National Immigration Project. “This report names what the administration will not: a campaign of deliberate cruelty operating at historic scale. The National Immigration Project stands with the international community in demanding accountability.”

“The combination of the ‘94 Crime Bill and the ‘96 Immigration Act has criminalized the immigration system, and Black migrants disproportionately feel the effects of these policies”, said Nana Gyamfi, Executive Director of the Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI). “The dire consequences of these bills continue to influence the negative sentiment and policies today. Being Black in America is dangerous. Navigating anti-Blackness in the criminal legal system and criminalization in the immigration system is the tragic reality for many Black migrants in the U.S. BAJI is committed to dismantling and abolishing the racist systems that target Black migrants under the pretext of security and crime suppression and call for an end to the continued War on Black people codified in these failed “drug war” policies.”

“The Trump administration’s refusal to participate in the Universal Periodic Review comes amid its dismantling of domestic oversight of immigration agents and disregard for court orders,” said Uzra Zeya, President and CEO of Human Rights First. “This administration is jailing immigrants of all ages in prisons where deaths are increasing and medical neglect is rampant. It is separating parents from their children as it detains entire families, and as a cruel tactic to coerce them to leave the United States. It is issuing mass deportation orders without reviewing individuals’ protection claims. And it is forcibly sending immigrants to countries all over the world where they have no connection — places where many people are arbitrarily jailed or returned to persecution. We are proud to join our partners in demanding accountability for the systematic abuses committed against immigrants—those who have called the United States home and those newly arrived seeking safety.”

“The Trump administration has created an immigration system of horrors detaining adults, families with infants, and elderly individuals in facilities where reports of inadequate conditions and medical care are pervasive.” said Margaret Cargioli, directing attorney, policy and advocacy, at the Immigrant Defenders Law Center (ImmDef). “These deliberate actions undermine constitutional protections, including access to counsel and due process.  Asylum seekers who have historically been afforded protection in the United States are being deported to third countries where they may face serious harm or refoulement. Immigrant Defenders Law Center urges the United Nations to condemn these unlawful inhumane practices, and we urge the international community at-large to renounce the Trump administration’s immigration objectives.”

“The ongoing unprecedented DHS shutdown underscores the federal government’s unwillingness to protect people’s rights. U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents continue to kill and violate people’s rights with impunity, while taxpayer dollars are diverted away from the urgent needs of border communities,” said Lillian Serrano, Director of the Southern Border Communities Coalition. “Human rights are non-negotiable, and we urge the UN Human Rights Council to hold the U.S. government to account for its record of abuses at this November’s Universal Periodic Review.” 

“The basic integrity of the U.S. refugee admissions program is under existential threat,” said John Slocum, Executive Director of RCUSA, “The Trump administration’s ongoing suspension and distortion of the refugee program completely excludes the most at-risk and vulnerable refugees, whom the program was designed to protect. Since day one, the Trump administration has systematically attacked refugee protections, and the effect has been to dehumanize, harm, terrorize, and endanger refugee communities. At a time of record-high global displacement, the United States has both a moral and strategic imperative to lead. Refugees contribute economically, socially, and civically, revitalizing communities and boosting local economies. The world is watching to see if the United States will once again lead with compassion, or continue to turn its back on those who need us most.”

This latest report follows an earlier submission from the coalition in April 2025, urging the UN to address the rapidly deteriorating human rights situation of non-citizens in the United States.

The full group of participating organizations includes Amnesty International; The Advocates for Human Rights; 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;  Hope Border Institute; Human Rights First; Immigration Services and Legal Advocacy; Immigrant Defenders Law Center; International Refugee Assistance Project; Muslim Advocates; National Immigration Project; Physicians for Human Rights; Public Council; Refugee Council USA; Refugees International; The Robert & Ethel Kennedy Human Rights Center; Southern Border Communities Coalition; and United Stateless.