UN panel accuses Trump of "racist hate speech"
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President Trump speaks on in Hebron, Kentucky, on Wednesday. Photo: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
A United Nations watchdog on Wednesday criticized "intensified immigration crackdowns" in the U.S. and accused President Trump and other American leaders of using "racist hate speech" — both of which it said had "sparked grave human rights violations."
Why it matters: The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination's report marks an unprecedented singling out of a U.S. leader by a United Nations body — and it prompted the White House to accuse the global intergovernmental organization of "extreme bias" in response.
Driving the news: "Racist hate speech by political leaders, including the President, combined with intensified immigration crackdowns in the United States, notably near schools, hospitals and faith-based institutions, has sparked grave human rights violations," said CERD in a statement accompanying the report.
- "The Committee was deeply disturbed by the growing use of derogatory and dehumanizing language, and the dissemination of negative and harmful stereotypes targeting migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers," added the statement from the body that comprises 18 independent experts.
- "Portraying them as criminals or as a burden, by politicians and influential public figures at the highest level, particularly the President ... may incite racial discrimination and hate crimes."
- The report denounces what it says are Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) and the Customs and Border Protection's "systematic use of racial profiling and arbitrary identity checks" against people of Latino, African and Asian origin.
What they're saying: The UN's "extreme bias continues to prove why no one takes them seriously," White House spokesperson Olivia Wales said in an emailed statement Wednesday.
- "President Trump is delivering on his promise to make our country safe again: the murder rate has plummeted to a 125-year low, with last year marking the biggest one-year drop in recorded history, crime categories are dropping across the board, and we have the most secure border in history," she added.
- "No one cares what the biased United Nations' so-called 'experts' think, because Americans are living in a safer, stronger country than ever before."
The big picture: Trump has made immigration enforcement a centerpiece policy of his second term after he campaigned on the issue in the 2024 presidential election.
- At least 675,000 people have been deported since he retook office through January this year, per Department of Homeland Security estimates.
- The UN report estimates at least eight people have died since January this year during ICE operations or while in ICE custody, "including protesters exercising their right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association and detained refugees, asylum seeker and migrants."
- Polls taken since federal immigration agents shot two U.S. citizens in Minnesota earlier this year show majorities now disapprove of ICE raids and how the agency is handling its job.
Read the report in full, via DocumentCloud:
Go deeper... Scoop: White House tells House Republicans to stop talking about mass deportations
