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The United Nations human rights chief has called on the United States to ensure that its migration policies and enforcement practices “respect human dignity and due process rights.”
Volker Turk, in a statement relayed by spokesperson Marta Hurtado, decried the “dehumanizing portrayal and harmful treatment of migrants and refugees.”
Hurtado said Turk called on leaders “at all levels in the U.S. to halt the use of scapegoating tactics that seeks to distract and divide, and which increase the exposure of migrants and refugees to xenophobic hostility and abuse.”
As US President Donald Trump marks the first year of his second term, the immigration enforcement and removal operation that has been a cornerstone of his domestic and foreign policy agenda is rapidly transforming into something else—a national law enforcement presence with billions upon billions of dollars in new spending from US taxpayers.
The shooting death of Renee Good in Minneapolis showed the alarming reach of the new federalized force, sparking unrelenting protests against the military-style officers seen going door to door to find and detain immigrants.
Amid the outpouring of opposition, Trump revived threats to invoke the Insurrection Act to quell the demonstrations, and the U.S. Army has 1,500 soldiers ready to deploy.
To be sure, illegal crossings into the U.S. at the Mexico border have fallen to historic lows under Trump, a remarkable shift from just a few years ago when President Joe Biden’s Democratic administration allowed millions of people to temporarily enter the U.S. as they adjudicated their claims to stay.
Yet as enforcement moves away from the border, the newly hired army of immigration officers swarming city streets with aggressive tactics—in Los Angeles, Chicago, and elsewhere—is something not normally seen in the U.S.
Armed and masked law enforcement officers are being witnessed smashing car windows, yanking people from vehicles, chasing and wrestling others to the ground, and hauling them away—images playing out in endless loops on TVs and other screens.
This article was provided by The Associated Press.