Trump’s ‘racist hate speech’ sparking human rights violations, UN watchdog warns | US news
“Racist hate speech” used by Donald Trump and other US political leaders, as well as an intensifying crackdown on migration in the country, have led to “serious human rights violations”, a UN watchdog has warned.
In a non-binding decision released this week, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) called on the United States to uphold its obligations as a signatory to the international convention against racism and discrimination.
The panel of 18 independent experts said they were deeply troubled by the increasing use of derogatory and dehumanizing language, as well as harmful stereotypes, used to target migrants, including refugees and asylum seekers.
“Portraying them as criminals or a burden, by politicians and influential public figures at the highest levels, especially the president, can incite racial discrimination and hate crimes,” he said, in what appears to be an unprecedented distinction for comments made by a US president.
Trump has long sought to blame immigrants for crime, despite a wide range of statistics showing that they support the U.S. economy and commit crimes at far lower rates than people born in the United States.
The five-page ruling also documents widespread concerns about measures taken by the Trump administration to combat migration, from the “systematic use of racial profiling” by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as well as Border Patrol agents, to reports of “discriminatory, dangerous and violent methods” that have been linked to the deaths of at least eight people since January 2026.
In Minneapolis, where federal immigration agents swarmed the streets earlier this year, the panel highlighted a “pattern of serious human rights violations.”
The deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Good, killed in separate shootings at the hands of federal agents in the city, could constitute “gross violations of international human rights law and constitute an extrajudicial execution of two peaceful protesters,” it notes.
The panel said it was deeply concerned about the “drastic increase” in the number of people in immigration detention, from almost 40,000 at the end of 2024 to around 73,000 at the start of this year.
At least 675,000 people have been deported since Trump returned to power in January 2025, the panel noted, while the administration has also decided to strip hundreds of thousands of immigrants who were living legally in the United States of their legal status.
Reports of people being held in “inhumane conditions” and receiving “inadequate medical care” are concerning, the report said, noting that at least 29 migrants died in these facilities last year and six in January this year.
The committee issued the ruling after the American Civil Liberties Union asked it to weigh in on potential rights violations in the administration’s crackdown in Minnesota.
Previous US administrations, notably those led by Barack Obama and Joe Biden, were also criticized by the panel. However, none of them were singled out for their rhetoric, while this time the UN-backed body specifically cited Trump’s speech as problematic.
A White House spokesperson dismissed the report, instead citing Trump’s efforts to secure the country’s borders.
“This UN assessment is just as useless as their broken escalator, and their extreme bias continues to prove why no one takes them seriously,” Olivia Wales said in a statement to reporters.
“No one cares what the biased so-called ‘experts’ at the United Nations think, because Americans live in a country that is safer and stronger than ever,” she added.
