A sustained pattern of strikes on Iranian hospitals, ambulances, and medical infrastructure has killed healthcare workers and forced the evacuation of six hospitals. The WHO has verified 18 attacks on health sites, documenting systematic damage to protected medical facilities including Gandhi Hospital and Iranian Red Crescent centers.
WHO has verified 18 attacks on healthcare facilities in Iran since the war began on February 28, 2026, with at least 8 medical workers killed and 55 wounded.
Six hospitals have been evacuated, 29 clinical facilities damaged, and 10 rendered inactive. Patients required evacuation from seven additional facilities.
An executive order stripped human rights safeguards from the US arms transfer framework, replacing decades of bipartisan policy with a commerce-first approach. The subsequent emergency bypass of congressional review for $23+ billion in Gulf arms sales demonstrated the immediate consequences of removing these guardrails.
Executive Order 14383, signed February 6, 2026, establishes the 'America First Arms Transfer Strategy,' which reorders US arms export priorities to prioritize commercial and economic objectives over strategic, human rights, and humanitarian considerations.
The EO makes no mention of human rights, international humanitarian law, or civilian protection — a stark departure from all previous administrations' arms transfer policies, including Trump's own 2018 policy.
The US contracted with an Israeli state-owned arms manufacturer for banned cluster munitions at industrial scale, reversing decades of declining reliance on these weapons and funding an Israeli weapons program while cluster munitions continue to kill and maim civilians worldwide.
On September 30, 2025, the Pentagon awarded an indefinite delivery/quantity contract with a ceiling value of $829.1 million to Tomer, an Israeli state-owned company, for the manufacture and production of the 155mm XM1208 cluster munition shell. The initial order was valued at $210 million.
The contract was awarded without public competition under a 'public interest' exception to federal contracting law, bypassing normal procurement safeguards.
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Updated March 26, 2026Foreign Policy & War
Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law ConcernOngoingReported record
The expiration of the last US-Russia nuclear arms control treaty ends over five decades of binding limits on the world's two largest nuclear arsenals. No replacement is under negotiation. The loss of verification mechanisms, data exchange, and warhead caps risks an unconstrained nuclear arms race at a time of peak geopolitical tension.
New START expired on February 5, 2026, ending the last legally binding limits on US and Russian nuclear arsenals — 1,550 deployed strategic warheads, 700 deployed delivery systems, and 800 deployed and non-deployed launchers per side.
This marks the first time since the early 1970s that there are no binding nuclear arms control agreements between the two nations that together possess approximately 90% of the world's nuclear weapons.
The US unilaterally struck a sovereign African nation for the first time, firing Tomahawk cruise missiles at Sokoto State. Locals disputed the ISIS narrative, unexploded ordnance fell in villages, and the legal basis for striking a non-hostile nation's territory without AUMF authority remains deeply contested.
The US fired over a dozen Tomahawk cruise missiles from the USS Paul Ignatius in the Gulf of Guinea, striking at least 16 targets in Sokoto State on December 25-26, 2025 — the first-ever US airstrikes in Nigeria.
At least four missile warheads failed to explode and fell short of targets, landing in the villages of Offa, Zugurma, and Jabo, creating an unexploded ordnance hazard for civilian communities.
A large-scale US retaliatory bombing campaign in Syria following the deaths of three Americans near Palmyra. The scale of the operation — hundreds of munitions across dozens of targets in populated desert regions — raises serious questions about proportionality and civilian protection under international humanitarian law.
On December 19, 2025, the US launched Operation Hawkeye Strike with over 100 munitions on 70+ ISIS targets across Syria, using A-10s, F-16s, Apache helicopters, and HIMARS guided artillery, with support from Jordanian F-16s.
The operation was retaliatory — responding to the December 13 Palmyra attack that killed two US soldiers (Sgt. Edgar Torres-Tovar and Sgt. William Howard of the Iowa National Guard) and a civilian interpreter (Ayad Mansoor Sakat).
The Trump administration reversed decades of bipartisan progress toward eliminating antipersonnel landmines by authorizing their global use and simultaneously dismantling the US humanitarian demining program that had been the world's largest mine-clearing effort.
Defense Secretary Hegseth signed a memo on December 2, 2025, reversing the Biden-era policy that prohibited US use of antipersonnel landmines outside the Korean Peninsula, allowing combatant commanders to deploy landmines anywhere without geographic restriction.
The same memo rescinded the US Humanitarian Mine Program, a decades-long government initiative that had provided over $5 billion in assistance to more than 125 countries to find and destroy unexploded landmines since 1993.
A secret agreement with one of the world's most repressive regimes has stranded 29 deportees in Equatorial Guinea, where they face indefinite detention without counsel or forced deportation to the countries they fled. The $7.5 million deal is part of a broader $40 million third-country deportation program targeting migrants from countries that will not accept their return.
The Trump administration paid Equatorial Guinea $7.5 million in a secretive deal to accept 29 deportees from the United States, as part of a broader $40 million third-country deportation program.
The 29 deportees were sent on two flights — November 24, 2025 and January 22, 2026 — and came from nine countries: Ethiopia, Eritrea, Mauritania, Angola, Congo, Chad, Georgia, Ghana, and Nigeria. None were from Equatorial Guinea.
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Updated March 26, 2026Corruption & Self-Dealing
Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law ConcernOngoingReported record
After signing the Epstein Files Transparency Act, the Trump administration's DOJ missed legal deadlines, secretly re-redacted files, and withheld documents containing allegations that Trump sexually abused a minor — prompting a UN finding that the crimes described may amount to crimes against humanity, bipartisan congressional subpoenas of AG Bondi, and calls for a special counsel over alleged perjury.
UN Human Rights Council-mandated experts stated in February 2026 that the crimes documented in the Epstein files — sexual slavery, trafficking, torture of women and girls — are 'so grave' in 'scale, nature, systematic character, and transnational reach' that they 'may reasonably meet the legal threshold of crimes against humanity.'
The Trump DOJ missed the 30-day legal deadline to release files, released only about 3.5 million of over 6 million responsive pages, and applied extensive redactions to names of powerful individuals — violating the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
Trump directed the Pentagon to match other nations' nuclear testing programs, breaking a moratorium that has held since 1992 and threatening to collapse the global norm against nuclear testing that has been maintained for over three decades.
On October 30, 2025, Trump publicly directed the Pentagon to resume nuclear weapons testing, stating the US should match 'other countries' nuclear testing programs' — apparently referencing Russia's publicized test of a nuclear delivery system.
The US has not conducted a live nuclear weapons test since 1992, when President George H.W. Bush imposed a unilateral testing moratorium. No country besides North Korea has tested nuclear weapons since the 1990s.
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Updated March 26, 2026Deportation & Immigration
Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law ConcernReported record
The administration attempted a mass deportation of unaccompanied minor children in the middle of the night during a holiday weekend, circumventing legal protections that require children to appear before an immigration judge. A federal judge halted the operation after being awakened at 2:35 AM, but one plane had already taken off before turning around.
On August 31, 2025 (Labor Day weekend), 76 unaccompanied Guatemalan children in US government custody were roused from their beds around 1:00 AM and put on three planes for deportation to Guatemala.
HHS began contacting shelter care providers around 10:00 PM Central time on August 30, ordering them to prepare children for immediate discharge. Children were shaken from sleep and told to pack their belongings.
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Updated March 26, 2026Foreign Policy & War
Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law ConcernOngoingReported record
The combined effect of freezing Afghanistan's sovereign assets and terminating all US humanitarian aid has created a catastrophic humanitarian crisis in which millions face starvation. UN officials have explicitly warned the policy will directly cause deaths, particularly among children.
The United States and European nations froze nearly $9.5 billion in Afghan central bank assets after the Taliban takeover in August 2021, depriving the Afghan economy of its reserves and cutting it off from the global financial system.
In 2025, the Trump administration terminated all remaining US humanitarian aid to Afghanistan — $561.8 million — ordering an immediate suspension of all assistance programs.
US airstrikes on Yemen's most critical civilian port infrastructure killed 84+ civilians including three children, port workers, truck drivers, and civil defense personnel. HRW found the strikes were an apparent war crime given the port's overwhelmingly civilian character and essential role in sustaining Yemen's population.
14 US airstrikes hit the Ras Issa oil terminal on April 17, 2025, killing at least 84 civilians and injuring over 150, including port workers, truck drivers, civil defense personnel, and three children.
Ras Issa is one of three ports in Hodeidah through which approximately 70% of Yemen's commercial imports and 80% of humanitarian assistance enters the country — making it indispensable civilian infrastructure.
A 53-day US bombing campaign in Yemen produced an unprecedented civilian death toll, with monitoring organizations documenting at least 224 civilian deaths — matching the previous 23 years of US civilian casualties in Yemen. Strikes hit a migrant detention center, a fuel port, and a cancer hospital.
Operation Rough Rider ran from March 15 to May 6, 2025 — 53 days of sustained bombing against Houthi-controlled Yemen, with 339+ strikes hitting 800+ targets.
Airwars documented 33 civilian harm incidents and at least 224 civilian deaths. The Yemen Data Project documented at least 238 civilian deaths including 24 children, with 467 civilians injured.
The reimposition of FTO status on the Houthis threatens to deepen what was already the world's worst humanitarian crisis by chilling aid delivery, disrupting commercial imports, and creating legal risks for humanitarian workers operating in areas where more than half of Yemen's population lives.
On March 4, 2025, the State Department redesignated Ansarallah (Houthis) as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, carrying criminal penalties for providing 'material support' to the designated entity.
Biden had revoked the FTO designation in February 2021 specifically because of its humanitarian impact, stating it was 'due entirely to the humanitarian consequences' and would 'accelerate the world's worst humanitarian crisis.'
Using emergency waivers under the Arms Export Control Act, the administration has bypassed Congress to approve massive arms sales to Gulf states, including to the UAE despite documented evidence of UAE weapons flowing to the RSF in Sudan's genocide. The simultaneous rescission of NSM-20 removed all human rights conditions from US arms transfers.
The Trump administration invoked wartime emergency powers to force through more than $23 billion in arms sales to the UAE, Kuwait, and Jordan, bypassing the mandatory congressional review process under the Arms Export Control Act.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued an emergency waiver to bypass the standard 30-day congressional review period, citing the Iran war as justification.
A systematic campaign to destroy the International Criminal Court's ability to hold Americans accountable for war crimes, combining unprecedented sanctions on judges with demands to rewrite the Rome Statute itself. The campaign goes far beyond any previous US opposition to the ICC, seeking not merely non-cooperation but the permanent restructuring of international criminal justice.
On February 6, 2025, President Trump issued Executive Order 14203 imposing sanctions on the ICC, blocking property of the Chief Prosecutor and authorizing designation of anyone who assists the court's investigations of US or allied personnel.
The administration demanded three conditions: the ICC must guarantee it will not investigate Trump or his top officials, drop investigations into Israeli leaders over the Gaza war, and formally end the probe into US troops in Afghanistan.
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Updated March 25, 2026Foreign Policy & War
War Crime / Crime Against HumanityOngoingReported record
The US Defense Secretary's public declaration that no quarter would be given to Iran constitutes a textbook war crime under Rome Statute Article 8(2)(b)(xii), which criminalizes 'declaring that no quarter will be given.' This prohibition is among the oldest in the laws of war.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth publicly declared there would be 'no quarter, no mercy' for Iran during the 2026 Iran war.
Declaring that no quarter will be given is explicitly listed as a war crime under Rome Statute Article 8(2)(b)(xii). It is a per se violation — the declaration itself is the crime, regardless of whether it is carried out.
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Updated March 25, 2026Foreign Policy & War
War Crime / Crime Against HumanityOngoingReported record
US and Israeli strikes have damaged UNESCO World Heritage Sites and over 100 cultural heritage sites across Iran, including Golestan Palace, Isfahan's Naqsh-e Jahan Square complex, the 8th-century Jameh Mosque, and prehistoric sites dating to 63,000 BC. The destruction of cultural heritage during armed conflict is prohibited under the 1954 Hague Convention and constitutes a war crime under the Rome Statute.
UNESCO documented at least four historic sites damaged by shockwaves from a March 10 strike alone. Iran's Ministry of Cultural Heritage reported at least 56 cultural sites, museums, and historical buildings damaged, with over 100 heritage sites impacted as bombing continued.
Golestan Palace in Tehran, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, suffered shattered glass from mirrored ceilings, broken archways, blown-out windows, and damaged glass-mosaic walls.
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Updated March 25, 2026Foreign Policy & War
War Crime / Crime Against HumanityOngoingReported record
A US submarine torpedoed an Iranian frigate returning from a peaceful international naval event, killing 87 sailors. The failure to rescue shipwrecked sailors violates the Second Geneva Convention's obligation to search for and collect the shipwrecked after an engagement.
The USS Charlotte torpedoed the IRIS Dena approximately 19 nautical miles off Sri Lanka on March 4, 2026. The Iranian frigate was returning from India's International Fleet Review — a peaceful, internationally attended naval event.
Eighty-seven sailors were killed. The Sri Lanka Navy rescued 32 survivors.
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Updated March 25, 2026Foreign Policy & War
War Crime / Crime Against HumanityOngoingReported record
The Iran war triggered closure of the world's most critical energy chokepoint, causing the largest supply disruption since the 1970s. Oil above $120/barrel, 70% food import disruption across Gulf states, and mass civilian evacuation — consequences of a war launched without congressional authorization.
The Strait of Hormuz — through which approximately 20 million barrels of oil pass daily, representing 20% of global seaborne oil trade — was effectively closed starting March 4, 2026.
Tanker traffic dropped by approximately 70%, with over 150 ships anchoring outside the strait to avoid risks.
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Updated March 25, 2026Complicity in Genocide
War Crime / Crime Against HumanityOngoingReported record
Israel's 2026 Lebanon offensive — conducted with US-supplied weapons including white phosphorus munitions used over civilian areas — has killed over 1,000 people, wounded nearly 3,000, and displaced 700,000. The United States bears complicity through continued arms transfers despite documented violations. HRW and UN experts have called for suspension of military assistance.
Since the renewed Israeli offensive beginning March 2, 2026, over 1,072 people have been killed in Lebanon including at least 121 children, with nearly 3,000 wounded, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry.
Nearly 700,000 people — 20% of Lebanon's population — have been displaced, including 200,000 children. An additional 85,000-90,000 have fled across the border to Syria.
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Updated March 25, 2026Foreign Policy & War
War Crime / Crime Against HumanityOngoingReported record
Trump's explicit threat to destroy Iran's civilian power infrastructure constitutes a per se violation of international humanitarian law. Combined with the broader war's toll of 5,900+ killed including 595 civilians, this represents a confirmed war crime classification for threatening attacks on civilian objects.
Trump explicitly threatened to 'obliterate' Iran's power plants, which Amnesty International assessed as a 'threat to commit war crimes' -- intentionally targeting civilian infrastructure is a per se violation of IHL.
As of March 21, 2026, the Iran war has killed at least 5,900 people including 595 documented civilians, according to the Hengaw Documentation Center.
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Updated March 25, 2026Military Overreach
War Crime / Crime Against HumanityOngoingReported record
The United States launched a major war against Iran without congressional authorization, without a UN Security Council mandate, and while diplomatic channels remained open. Legal experts, the Brennan Center, and international law scholars have characterized the strikes as unconstitutional and as potentially meeting the definition of a crime of aggression — what the Nuremberg Tribunal called 'the supreme international crime.'
On February 28, 2026, the US and Israel launched nearly 900 airstrikes in 12 hours against Iran under 'Operation Epic Fury,' killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh, IRGC Commander Mohammad Pakpour, and dozens of other officials.
Approximately 170 civilians were killed when a missile struck a girls' school adjacent to a naval base in Minab, near Bandar Abbas.
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Updated March 25, 2026Foreign Policy & War
War Crime / Crime Against HumanityOngoingReported record
A Tomahawk cruise missile struck a girls' elementary school in Minab, Iran, killing up to 180 schoolchildren in one of the deadliest single incidents of civilian harm in the 2026 Iran war. Investigations by the New York Times, CBC, NPR, and BBC Verify confirmed US responsibility.
A US Tomahawk cruise missile struck the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls' elementary school in Minab, Hormozgan province, Iran, on February 28, 2026, killing between 175 and 180 people — mostly schoolgirls aged 7 to 12.
The school was 'triple-tapped' — struck three distinct times. Analysis showed missiles hit a nearby military base and the school but bypassed a medical clinic between them, indicating deliberate coordinate selection.
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Updated March 25, 2026Military Overreach
War Crime / Crime Against HumanityOngoingReported record
The United States launched a unilateral military intervention in Venezuela, bombing infrastructure and capturing the sitting head of state, without Congressional authorization, UN Security Council mandate, or self-defense justification. International legal experts, the UN Secretary-General, and governments worldwide condemned the operation as a violation of the UN Charter.
The US launched Operation Absolute Resolve on January 3, 2026, bombing Venezuelan infrastructure and capturing President Nicolas Maduro without UN Security Council authorization, Congressional authorization, or self-defense justification.
The operation included bombing to suppress air defenses across northern Venezuela followed by a special operations raid on Maduro's compound in Caracas.
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Updated March 25, 2026Extrajudicial Killing
War Crime / Crime Against HumanityOngoingReported record
A sustained campaign of Hellfire missile strikes on suspected drug boats has killed at least 95 people without due process, public evidence of drug trafficking, or identification of the dead. Legal experts widely classify these as extrajudicial killings and crimes against humanity.
At least 95 people killed in 26+ Hellfire missile strikes on boats in the Caribbean and Pacific since September 2, 2025, with no public evidence the boats were carrying drugs.
The very first strike on September 2, 2025 included a 'double tap' — two survivors clung to wreckage for 45 minutes before a follow-up strike killed them. The total death toll from this single incident was 11.
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Updated March 25, 2026Deportation to Torture
War Crime / Crime Against HumanityOngoingReported record
Florida immigration detention centers are sites of documented torture including a punitive cage device, prolonged solitary confinement, unsanitary conditions, and enforced disappearances facilitated by the absence of any tracking system. At least six people died in Florida ICE facilities since October 2024.
Amnesty International conducted a research trip to southern Florida in September 2025 and published findings in December 2025 documenting systematic human rights violations at two immigration detention facilities
'Alligator Alcatraz' (Everglades Detention Facility) operates OUTSIDE federal oversight, without the basic tracking systems used in ICE facilities — the absence of registration or tracking mechanisms facilitates incommunicado detention constituting enforced disappearance
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Updated March 25, 2026Press Freedom
Major Abuse of PowerOngoingOfficial executive action
A campaign of government coercion against media through broadcast license threats from the president and FCC chair, forced cancellation of a television show, pressure to remove apps, and demands that platforms suppress immigration-related content.
In August 2025, Trump called for the FCC to revoke broadcast licenses of ABC and NBC for being 'two of the worst and most biased networks in history.' FCC Chairman Brendan Carr supported the call.
In September 2025, Trump said networks covering him negatively should 'maybe' have their licenses revoked, adding such decisions 'would be up to' Carr.
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Updated March 25, 2026Deportation & Immigration
Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law ConcernOngoingActive litigation
An ICE directive and BIA precedential decision eliminated bond hearings for millions of immigrants, creating a system of indefinite detention without judicial review. 71.7% of the 57,861 ICE detainees had no criminal convictions.
On July 8, 2025, Acting ICE Director Todd M. Lyons issued a memo declaring that immigrants who entered without inspection are no longer eligible for bond hearings.
On September 5, 2025, the BIA ruled in Matter of Yajure Hurtado that immigration judges lack authority to conduct bond hearings for anyone present 'without admission' -- even those who have lived in the US for decades.
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Updated March 25, 2026Civil Rights
Serious Rights ViolationOngoingOfficial executive action
A pattern of militarized response to protests including the ICE killing of an American mother, Insurrection Act threats, 3,000-agent deployments, expanded federal police powers, and a presidential memorandum classifying political opposition as domestic terrorism.
On January 7, 2026, ICE agent Jonathan Ross fatally shot Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old American mother of three, in Minneapolis during a massive immigration enforcement operation. Video evidence showed a peaceful encounter contradicting government claims of self-defense. Good was the ninth person shot by ICE agents since September 2025.
Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act to suppress protests in Minneapolis following the Good shooting, deploying 3,000 ICE agents in 'Operation Metro Surge' and characterizing protesters as 'insurrectionists.' Attorney General Blanche accused the Minnesota governor of 'terrorism.'
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Updated March 25, 2026Civil Rights
Serious Rights ViolationOngoingOfficial executive action
A sweeping expansion of travel restrictions targeting predominantly Muslim-majority and African nations, growing from the original first-term ban to cover 39 countries. The bans affect millions of people and have been widely characterized as religious and racial discrimination codified into immigration policy.
On June 4, 2025, Trump issued a proclamation restricting entry from 12 countries (Afghanistan, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Myanmar, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen) and partially restricting 7 more (Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, Venezuela).
In December 2025, the ban was expanded to fully restrict entry from 7 additional countries: Burkina Faso, Laos, Mali, Niger, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, and Syria — plus people with Palestinian Authority travel documents.
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Updated March 25, 2026Foreign Policy & War
Serious Rights ViolationOngoingOfficial executive action
The US was the sole dissenter blocking Gaza ceasefire resolutions supported by all other Security Council members, while famine and allegations of genocide continued in Gaza. The pattern of vetoes enabled continued military operations with devastating humanitarian consequences.
In June 2025, the US cast its sole veto against a resolution demanding 'an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in Gaza' — the resolution received 14 votes in favor from all other council members.
In September 2025, the US vetoed another ceasefire resolution, the sixth such veto, being the only member to not support it. The vote took place at the council's 10,000th meeting, where famine and possible genocide were discussed.
The US paid Rwanda, Ghana, Eswatini, and South Sudan to accept deportees who are not their nationals, in deals a federal judge ruled unconstitutional. HRW called the expulsion agreements violations of international human rights law, and domestic lawsuits in Ghana challenge the deal's legality.
Rwanda agreed to accept up to 250 deportees from the US under a deal involving approximately $7.5 million in US financial support. Eswatini accepted up to 160 deportees for $5.1 million.
US District Judge Brian Murphy ruled the third-country deportation policy violates federal immigration law and migrants' constitutional right to due process.
US airstrikes killed 68 detained African migrants sleeping in a Sa'ada detention center during Operation Rough Rider. Amnesty International's investigation found no evidence the facility was a military target and concluded the strike was indiscriminate and must be investigated as a war crime.
US airstrikes hit a migrant detention center in Sa'ada, Yemen at approximately 5:00 AM on April 28, 2025, while 115 detained migrants were sleeping, killing at least 68 and injuring 47.
Victims were primarily Ethiopian and Somali migrants detained by Houthi authorities solely for their irregular immigration status — they were not combatants or military targets.
An executive order attempting unprecedented presidential control over federal elections — requiring proof of citizenship to register, decertifying voting machines in 39 states, restricting mail ballots, and demanding state voter files — struck down by three federal courts as unconstitutional but partially implemented by compliant states ahead of the 2026 midterms.
The order mandated proof of US citizenship (passport or equivalent) to register to vote using the national form. Only about half of Americans hold a passport; younger, lower-income, and non-white Americans are disproportionately unlikely to have such documents — potentially disenfranchising millions of eligible voters.
The order directed the EAC to decertify all previously certified voting machines within 180 days. Machines used in 39 states would be affected, with no alternative systems currently meeting the new standards — threatening to leave states unable to conduct the 2026 elections.
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Updated March 25, 2026Civil Rights
Major Abuse of PowerOngoingOfficial executive action
Systematic dismantlement of disability protections through withdrawal of ADA guidance, cancellation of pending rules, elimination of Section 503 hiring goals, 50% staff cuts at the disability services agency, and an executive order promoting institutionalization — described by the American Bar Association as rolling 'back decades of disability rights.'
In March 2025, the DOJ rescinded numerous ADA guidance documents dating to 1999 that clarified requirements for accessibility in public accommodations and government facilities.
On September 11, 2025, the DOJ announced it would not pursue 54 pending regulatory actions, including two ADA rulemakings: one on accessible equipment in public accommodations and one on accessible routes in public areas — effectively killing years of regulatory work.
A pattern of court order defiance, threats against judges, calls for impeachment, and DOJ Civil Rights Division gutting that constitutional scholars describe as the most serious executive-judicial confrontation since at least Watergate.
The administration continued deportation flights after Judge Boasberg ordered them stopped, leading to a finding of probable cause for criminal contempt.
Trump called for the impeachment of Judge Boasberg, prompting a rare rebuke from Chief Justice Roberts.
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Updated March 25, 2026Deportation to Torture
War Crime / Crime Against HumanityOngoingReported record
Over 260 Venezuelans were secretly deported to CECOT, where HRW documented torture, sexual violence, prolonged incommunicado detention, and denial of basic necessities. Many deportees had no criminal history and were asylum seekers.
260+ Venezuelan nationals were secretly deported to CECOT between March and April 2025, without notice to families or attorneys, constituting enforced disappearance under international law.
HRW's 'You Have Arrived in Hell' report documented regular and severe physical abuse, sexual violence (at least 3 cases including forced oral sex), psychological abuse, and prolonged incommunicado detention.
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Updated March 25, 2026Deportation to Torture
War Crime / Crime Against HumanityOngoingReported record
Systematic forced disappearances of Salvadoran nationals deported from the US, held incommunicado in Salvadoran prisons including CECOT with no access to lawyers, families, or courts. The US bears responsibility for knowingly deporting individuals to a country practicing enforced disappearance — a crime against humanity under the Rome Statute.
Human Rights Watch documented 11 cases of Salvadorans deported from the US between mid-March and mid-October 2025 who were immediately detained upon arrival and held incommunicado.
None of the deportees have been allowed to communicate with their relatives or lawyers. None have been brought before a judge.
Billions in funding frozen or canceled to coerce universities into political compliance, with demands for protest suppression, admissions reform, and 'academic receivership' of specific departments. Columbia capitulated with a $221 million settlement; Harvard resisted and won a court order restoring $2.2 billion. NIH research funding was cut 24%.
On March 7, 2025, the administration canceled $400 million in Columbia grants and contracts, then terminated $250+ million in NIH grants including 400+ research grants at the medical center. Columbia paid a $221 million settlement on July 23, 2025 to unfreeze remaining funding.
On April 14, 2025, the administration froze $2.2 billion in federal funding to Harvard after the university refused demands to adopt government-dictated policies on admissions, DEI, and student conduct. Harvard sued and won — a federal judge on September 3, 2025 blocked the freeze.
Unprecedented use of executive orders to punish four law firms for representing clients adverse to the president. All four orders were struck down as unconstitutional violations of the First, Fifth, and Sixth Amendments. The campaign chilled legal representation and coerced at least nine other firms into compliance deals.
Trump issued four executive orders targeting Perkins Coie (March 6), WilmerHale (March 27), Jenner & Block (March 25), and Susman Godfrey (April 9) — each revoking security clearances, barring employee access to federal buildings, and directing federal agencies to cancel contracts with the firms.
Each firm was targeted for specific past legal work adverse to Trump: Perkins Coie for representing the Clinton campaign, WilmerHale for employing Robert Mueller, Jenner & Block for employing Andrew Weissmann, and Susman Godfrey for representing Dominion Voting Systems against Fox News.
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Updated March 25, 2026Foreign Policy & War
Serious Rights ViolationOngoingOfficial executive action
The Pentagon's civilian casualty prevention infrastructure was gutted in early 2025, removing safeguards that existed specifically to prevent the kinds of civilian harm documented in the administration's subsequent military operations.
The CHMR program and its Civilian Protection Center of Excellence were tagged for elimination by February 2025.
Approximately 200 personnel assigned to civilian harm mitigation were affected.
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Updated March 25, 2026Deportation to Torture
War Crime / Crime Against HumanityOngoingReported record
A secret $6 million contract enabled the US to outsource detention to El Salvador's CECOT mega-prison, where HRW documented systematic torture. The unreleased agreement created an unprecedented mechanism to evade domestic legal protections by transferring detainees to a foreign torture facility.
The US paid $6 million to El Salvador to detain deportees at CECOT, a mega-prison where HRW documented systematic torture including sexual violence, beatings, and prolonged incommunicado detention.
The agreement was negotiated during Secretary Rubio's February 2025 visit to El Salvador and finalized as a written deal that has never been publicly released, despite its unprecedented nature.
Approximately 1,700 student visas revoked in a campaign targeting pro-Palestine campus protest activity, with the State Department using AI screening and testifying that criticism of Israel could justify revocation. The campaign suppresses protected political speech through immigration enforcement.
Approximately 1,700 student visas revoked since January 2025, with the State Department targeting students involved in pro-Palestine campus protests and social media activity.
The State Department deployed AI tools to screen social media for 'pro-Hamas' content and testified under oath that criticizing the state of Israel or calling for divestment could constitute grounds for revocation.
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Updated March 25, 2026Deportation to Torture
War Crime / Crime Against HumanityOngoingActive litigation
Immigrants transferred to Guantanamo Bay face conditions amounting to torture: 23+ hour solitary confinement, punishment chairs, physical abuse, and incommunicado detention. ACLU and CCR lawsuits challenge the offshore detention as unconstitutional and beyond the authority of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
Approximately 500 immigrants transferred to Guantanamo Bay Migrant Operations Center since January 2025, with executive order calling for expansion to 30,000-person capacity.
Detainees held in solitary, windowless cells for 23+ hours per day, constantly shackled, subjected to invasive strip searches and a 'punishment chair' for hours as punishment.
DOGE accessed Treasury, OPM, and SSA databases containing millions of Americans' personal data without authorization or completed background checks. Federal judges ordered data disgorged and deleted, finding Privacy Act and APA violations, though the Supreme Court later partially reversed.
DOGE staff were granted access to Treasury's central payment system (handling trillions in tax refunds, Social Security benefits, and veterans' benefits), OPM personnel databases, and SSA systems containing Americans' most sensitive personal data.
A federal judge found DOGE staffers were given access before background checks were completed or inter-agency detail agreements were finalized, violating the Privacy Act and Administrative Procedure Act.
A multi-pronged attack on organized labor: destruction of the NLRB's quorum through the first-ever mid-term firing of a board member, an executive order stripping collective bargaining from 950,000 federal workers, and extension of the order to additional agencies — described as 'the single most aggressive action against organized labor in US history.'
On January 27, 2025, Trump fired NLRB member Gwynne Wilcox — the first time a president has ever removed a Board member before the end of their five-year term — leaving the board without the three-member quorum required to hear cases. He also fired General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo.
A federal judge on March 6, 2025 found Wilcox's firing 'illegal,' but the DC Circuit stayed her reinstatement, and the Supreme Court on May 22 ruled she could not return to work pending appeal — leaving the NLRB unable to function indefinitely.
The US threatened Colombia with 25-50% tariffs, visa bans, and customs inspections to coerce acceptance of military deportation flights. Colombia capitulated within hours, establishing a precedent for weaponizing economic power to override sovereign decisions on migration.
Trump announced 25% tariffs on all Colombian goods (escalating to 50% within one week), a travel ban, visa revocations for government officials, and enhanced customs inspections — all within hours of Colombia refusing deportation flights.
Colombian President Petro's objection was specifically to the use of military aircraft for deportation flights, arguing it treated migrants as criminals rather than civilians.
Schedule F reclassification targets 50,000 federal employees for removal of civil service protections, enabling political firing for 'subversion of presidential directives.' The rule strips appeal rights, whistleblower protections, and Merit Systems Protection Board access, drawing lawsuits from over 30 organizations.
Approximately 50,000 federal employees (2% of the federal workforce) will be reclassified into 'Schedule Policy/Career,' losing civil service protections including appeal rights and whistleblower protections.
The final rule removes statutory whistleblower protections and prevents workers from appealing their reclassification to the Merit Systems Protection Board, eliminating key accountability mechanisms.
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Updated March 25, 2026Foreign Policy & War
Serious Rights ViolationOngoingOfficial executive action
The systematically intensified US sanctions regime against Cuba has caused 20-hour blackouts, hospital closures, medication shortages for 5 million chronically ill people, and collapse of essential services. UN experts condemned the measures as collective punishment of civilians.
US sanctions have cut Cuba's fuel imports by approximately 90 percent as of February 2026, causing electrical grid collapse with blackouts lasting up to 20 hours in Havana and longer in provinces.
Cuba's Health Minister reports 5 million people with chronic illnesses face medication or treatment disruption, including 16,000 cancer patients needing radiotherapy and 12,400 undergoing chemotherapy.
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Updated March 25, 2026Civil Rights
Major Abuse of PowerOngoingOfficial executive action
Executive order reversing the federal execution moratorium and mandating the death penalty be sought for all murders by undocumented immigrants 'regardless of other factors' — creating a discriminatory two-tier system where immigration status, not the severity of the crime, determines whether the government seeks death.
The executive order reversed Biden's July 2021 moratorium on federal executions and directed the attorney general to seek the death penalty in all 'appropriate' cases.
The order mandates the death penalty be pursued 'regardless of other factors' in two specific categories: murders of law enforcement officers, and murders committed by undocumented immigrants — creating a discriminatory regime where immigration status determines whether the government seeks death.
Systematic weaponization of the DOJ through a retaliatory investigations unit, indictments of political opponents that were dismissed as brought by an unlawfully appointed prosecutor, mass departure of career prosecutors, and dismantlement of the Civil Rights Division and Public Integrity Section.
Trump appointed Ed Martin — a former Missouri party chair who promoted election fraud claims and defended January 6 rioters — to lead a DOJ 'Weaponization Working Group' tasked with investigating officials who had investigated Trump.
Former FBI Director James Comey was indicted September 25, 2025, and New York AG Letitia James was indicted October 9, 2025. Both indictments were dismissed on November 24, 2025 by Judge Currie, who found prosecutor Lindsey Halligan — a former Trump defense lawyer — was unlawfully appointed. Two subsequent grand juries declined to reindict James.
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Updated March 25, 2026Federal Dismantlement
Serious Rights ViolationOngoingOfficial executive action
An unprecedented withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, UNFCCC, and IPCC, combined with the rescission of the endangerment finding and rollback of 31+ environmental rules, constitutes the most comprehensive destruction of environmental protections in US history. The actions remove the world's largest historical emitter from the international climate framework while eliminating domestic regulation of greenhouse gases.
On January 20, 2025, Trump signed an executive order withdrawing the US from the Paris Agreement and directing withdrawal from broader climate commitments.
In January 2026, the administration announced withdrawal from the UNFCCC and IPCC — plus 64 other international organizations — an unprecedented exit from the entire international climate architecture.
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Updated March 25, 2026Federal Dismantlement
Serious Rights ViolationOngoingOfficial executive action
A systematic effort to dismantle federal disaster preparedness and response capacity through budget cuts, mass layoffs, program terminations, and structural reorganization. FEMA's workforce has already shrunk by one-third, with plans to cut it in half. The disaster response workforce faces a 41% cut and the surge workforce an 85% cut, leaving the country dangerously unprepared for hurricanes, wildfires, earthquakes, and other disasters.
FEMA's workforce shrank from approximately 29,000 to 23,000 in 2025 — a loss of one-third of its staff since Trump's second term began.
The proposed FY2026 budget cuts FEMA by $646 million. Plans call for a 50% total workforce reduction, a 41% disaster response staff cut, and an 85% cut to the surge workforce that deploys after major disasters.
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Updated March 25, 2026Deportation to Torture
Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law ConcernOngoingReported record
46 deaths in ICE custody since January 2025 mark a two-decade high. ICE's October 2025 halt of medical care payments left detainees without access to health services as the detention population reached record levels, creating conditions that contributed to preventable deaths.
46 people have died in ICE custody or detention facilities since January 2025 — a two-decade high, with 2025 seeing the highest death rate (5.6 per 10,000 detainees) since the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.
ICE halted payments to medical care contractors in October 2025 after the VA terminated a longstanding reimbursement agreement, leaving detention facilities without funded medical services.
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Updated March 25, 2026Deportation & Immigration
Serious Rights ViolationOngoingOfficial executive action
The rescission of the sensitive locations policy removed decades-old protections for churches, schools, hospitals, courthouses, and shelters from immigration enforcement. The change unleashed a dramatic surge in arrests of non-criminal immigrants and chilled access to essential services including healthcare and education.
On January 20, 2025, the Trump administration rescinded the DHS Protected Areas policy via executive order 'Protecting the American People Against Invasion,' removing protections for churches, schools, hospitals, courthouses, shelters, and childcare facilities from ICE operations.
Arrests of people with no criminal record surged 2,450% in Trump's first year — from 6% of ICE detainees in January 2025 to 41% by December 2025.
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Updated March 25, 2026Corruption & Self-Dealing
Major Abuse of PowerOngoingOfficial executive action
A systematic pattern of pardons benefiting political allies, donors, and financial criminals. Over half of 88 clemency grants went to white-collar offenders, erasing $1.3 billion in victim restitution. Twenty corrupt politicians were pardoned. The DOJ's Public Integrity Section — responsible for investigating corruption — has been largely dismantled, and the head of the Pardon Attorney's office was fired and replaced with a political loyalist.
More than half of 88 individual pardons through January 2026 went to people convicted of white-collar crimes — money laundering, bank fraud, wire fraud, and tax evasion are among the most frequent offenses pardoned.
House Judiciary Democrats calculated that Trump's pardons erased $1.3 billion in victim repayment and taxpayer recovery for Medicare fraud, tax fraud, and other financial crimes.
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Updated March 25, 2026Deportation & Immigration
Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law ConcernOngoingReported record
ICE deported 363 pregnant, postpartum, and nursing women in 13 months and recorded 16 miscarriages in detention. Women were shackled while miscarrying, denied prenatal care, and subjected to invasive procedures without consent -- all in violation of ICE's own 2021 directive against detaining pregnant individuals.
363 pregnant, postpartum, and nursing immigrants were deported between January 1, 2025 and February 16, 2026.
16 miscarriages were recorded in ICE custody by late September 2025.
Latinos account for 90% of ICE arrests, 76% of raids target majority-Latino neighborhoods, the Supreme Court has authorized race-based immigration stops, and at least 170 US citizens have been wrongfully detained — constituting systematic racial profiling in violation of equal protection and non-discrimination principles.
Latinos accounted for 9 out of 10 ICE arrests in the first six months of 2025. ICE arrests nearly doubled during Trump's first 100 days and rose further after advisor Stephen Miller announced a daily target of 3,000 arrests.
76% of ICE raids in 2025 targeted majority-Latino neighborhoods. Agents have raided hardware store parking lots, car washes, and street vendor corners almost daily — locations associated with Latino workers.
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Updated March 25, 2026Civil Rights
Major Abuse of PowerOngoingOfficial executive action
A multi-pronged campaign to restrict reproductive rights through executive action, including withdrawal from EMTALA enforcement, restoration of the Title X gag rule, enforcement of the Hyde Amendment, and preparation to invoke the 1873 Comstock Act as a de facto nationwide abortion ban without Congressional action.
The DOJ withdrew from lawsuits seeking to enforce EMTALA's requirement that hospitals provide stabilizing care — including abortion — in medical emergencies, potentially leaving patients without legally required emergency care.
The administration prohibited USAID from funding sexual and reproductive health programs globally, reinstating and expanding the 'Global Gag Rule' that bars foreign NGOs receiving US funds from providing or even discussing abortion services.
Federal funding cutoffs threatened against sanctuary cities and their entire states, lawsuits against 29 states, and pending legislation to condition unrelated federal funding on immigration cooperation — a coercive federalism strategy that courts have repeatedly found unconstitutional.
On January 13, 2026, Trump announced plans to suspend all federal funding to states hosting sanctuary cities starting February 1, expanding the threat from individual cities to entire state-level punishment.
The DOJ sued 29 states and Washington, DC for refusing to hand over voter registration lists and cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.
A systematic campaign of security clearance revocations targeting political opponents, critics, and former officials who investigated or prosecuted Trump, including 51 intelligence officials, prosecutors, state attorneys general, and even an entire private cybersecurity company — constituting an unprecedented use of classification authority for political punishment.
On January 20, 2025, Trump revoked security clearances of 51 former intelligence officials who signed a 2020 letter stating the Hunter Biden laptop story had 'earmarks of a Russian information operation,' including former DNI James Clapper, former CIA Directors John Brennan and Michael Hayden, and former SecDef Leon Panetta.
On March 22, 2025, a second executive order revoked clearances from former officials including Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, and individuals involved in the first Trump impeachment — Fiona Hill, Alexander Vindman, and Norm Eisen.
US airstrikes in Somalia escalated dramatically in 2025, with AFRICOM claiming zero civilian casualties despite independent monitors documenting dozens of civilian deaths. AFRICOM stopped publishing casualty data and has never paid compensation for civilian harm in the country.
AFRICOM conducted at least 43 airstrikes in Somalia in 2025, more than doubling the prior year's pace, with the administration citing both regional security and alleged threats to the US homeland.
AFRICOM has assessed zero civilian casualties from its 2025 strikes, while independent monitors at Airwars document between 33 and 167 total civilian deaths from US strikes in Somalia.
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Updated March 25, 2026Federal Dismantlement
War Crime / Crime Against HumanityOngoingOfficial executive action
Systematic destruction of the US Agency for International Development resulted in termination of lifesaving programs across the developing world, with The Lancet projecting 9.4 million additional preventable deaths by 2030.
The Lancet projects 9.4 million additional deaths by 2030 as a direct result of the USAID dismantlement, making this potentially the single largest humanitarian consequence of any single administrative action.
23 million children lost access to education and 95 million people lost access to basic healthcare when USAID programs were terminated.
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Updated March 25, 2026Federal Dismantlement
Serious Rights ViolationOngoingOfficial executive action
Systematic destruction of the government oversight apparatus: 17 inspectors general fired, heads of the Office of Special Counsel and Office of Government Ethics removed, whistleblower retaliation cases up 9x at DOE, and federal employees reporting fear of speaking up or reporting wrongdoing.
Trump fired 17 inspectors general upon returning to office in January 2025, removing the independent watchdogs responsible for detecting fraud, waste, and abuse across the executive branch. The firings violated the Inspector General Act's requirement of 30-day advance notice to Congress.
The heads of both the Office of Special Counsel (which protects whistleblowers from retaliation) and the Office of Government Ethics (which oversees ethics compliance) were fired in February 2025, eliminating the two agencies most directly responsible for protecting federal employees who report wrongdoing.
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Updated March 25, 2026Federal Dismantlement
Major Abuse of PowerOngoingOfficial executive action
The US withdrew from the WHO effective January 2026, removing the organization's largest funder and dismantling pandemic preparedness infrastructure. The WHO announced plans to cut 2,300 jobs — 25% of its workforce. The withdrawal degrades global disease surveillance, influenza vaccine matching, and outbreak response capacity at a time of ongoing zoonotic disease threats.
Trump signed Executive Order 14155 on January 20, 2025, initiating US withdrawal from the WHO. The withdrawal became effective on January 22, 2026.
The US was the WHO's largest single funder, responsible for 22% of mandatory contributions during 2024-2025. The WHO's most recent two-year budget is $6.8 billion.
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Updated March 25, 2026Complicity in Genocide
War Crime / Crime Against HumanityOngoingReported record
Continued US arms transfers to Israel during ICJ genocide proceedings, including emergency bypasses of Congressional review, combined with active diplomatic defense of Israel at the ICJ, raising serious questions of complicity in genocide under the Genocide Convention.
Since October 2023, the US has delivered 90,000 tons of arms to Israel on 800 transport planes and 140 ships, continuing throughout ICJ genocide proceedings.
The Trump administration approved 12,000+ thousand-pound bombs via emergency authority in 2026, bypassing Congressional review of the transfer.
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Updated March 25, 2026Complicity in Genocide
War Crime / Crime Against HumanityOngoingReported record
Israel deployed US-supplied white phosphorus over Lebanese civilian areas in 191 attacks across 17+ municipalities since October 2023, continuing through March 2026. HRW verified the attacks as unlawfully indiscriminate and called for suspension of US arms transfers.
Over 918 hectares hit across 191 white phosphorus attacks in southern Lebanon since October 2023, with 39% striking directly over civilian areas and only 44% in uninhabited zones.
HRW verified the March 3, 2026 use of airburst white phosphorus over residential homes in Yohmor, classifying it as unlawfully indiscriminate under international humanitarian law.
Immigration enforcement separated at least 11,000 US citizen children from their parents, with children held in government custody for an average of six months while officials used reunification processes as traps to arrest parents and caregivers.
At least 11,000 US citizen children had a parent detained by ICE in the first seven months of Trump's second term -- an average of more than 50 children per day.
Children in ICE detention jumped more than sixfold compared to the Biden administration, from ~25 per day to ~170 per day.
TPS was terminated or targeted for termination across 11 countries, de-documenting over 1 million people. Federal courts have blocked or paused several terminations. The State Department maintains 'Do Not Travel' advisories for many of the same countries DHS claims are safe for return.
1.6 million people lost their legal right to stay in the United States in 2025 across all TPS and parole terminations -- the largest mass de-documentation in US history.
TPS was terminated or targeted for 11 countries: Venezuela, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Nepal, Afghanistan, Cameroon, Syria, Somalia, Myanmar, and Ethiopia.
A systematic pattern of press freedom violations including the arrest of journalists covering immigration enforcement, the deportation of a journalist to the country he fled due to death threats, and the detention of reporters in foreign countries covering US deportation operations.
Don Lemon was arrested on January 30, 2026 on federal charges related to covering an ICE-connected church protest -- widely condemned as a First Amendment violation.
Mario Guevara, a Spanish-language journalist, was deported on October 3, 2025 to El Salvador -- the country he had fled in 2004 due to death threats for his journalism.
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Updated February 28, 2026Deportation & Immigration
ICE Air conducted 2,253 deportation flights to 79 countries in one year -- a 46% increase over the Biden era -- including to 25 countries that had never received ICE flights. Domestic transfer flights surged 132%. Airlines increasingly concealed flight details from public tracking.
2,253 deportation flights to 79 countries from January 20, 2025 to January 20, 2026 -- a 46% increase in flights and 76% increase in destinations.
Removal flights included 25 countries that had never previously received ICE deportation flights.
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Updated February 20, 2026Deportation to Torture
Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law ConcernOngoingReported record
The US secretly deported 17 people from 9 African countries to Cameroon under a covert agreement. Deportees were immediately beaten by gendarmes, arbitrarily detained, and subjected to torture. Journalists attempting to document conditions were detained. HRW documented systematic abuses including enforced disappearances and rape.
Under a secret agreement, the US deported 17 people from 9 African countries (Angola, DRC, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Zimbabwe) to Cameroon in January-February 2026.
Deportees included asylum seekers with court-ordered protections against deportation and at least one stateless person.
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Updated February 2, 2026Deportation & Immigration
Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law ConcernOngoingJudicial finding
The US deported Haitians to a country the FAA banned US airlines from landing in due to gang gunfire, where 90% of the capital is under gang control and 1.4 million are displaced. DHS terminated TPS for 348,000 Haitians while the State Department maintained a Level 4 'Do Not Travel' advisory.
90% of Port-au-Prince is under gang control as of July 2025 according to the United Nations.
The FAA banned US airlines from landing at Port-au-Prince airport after deportation planes came under gang gunfire; flights were rerouted to Cap-Haitien.
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Updated February 1, 2026Deportation & Immigration
Serious Rights ViolationOngoingOfficial executive action
ICE conducted at least 40 workplace raids with over 1,100 arrests in seven months, including the largest single-site raid in DHS history at a Hyundai plant in Georgia (475 arrests). The raids triggered diplomatic incidents and devastated communities dependent on immigrant labor.
At least 40 publicly reported ICE worksite enforcement actions in the first seven months of the administration, resulting in over 1,100 arrests.
The Hyundai Metaplant raid in Ellabell, Georgia (September 4, 2025) was the largest single-site immigration raid in DHS history, with 475 arrests.
The administration threatened military and economic coercion to annex Greenland and reclaim the Panama Canal, with the Pentagon developing actual invasion plans, before partially walking back the Greenland threats under international pressure.
Trump refused to rule out military or economic force to annex Greenland and threatened a 25% tariff on EU goods unless Denmark ceded the territory.
The Pentagon developed military options for the Panama Canal ranging from closer cooperation to outright invasion, per NBC News reporting.
The administration imposed escalating sanctions on ICC officials -- including judges and prosecutors -- for investigating US citizens and allies, obstructing international criminal accountability and drawing broad condemnation from the UN and international legal community.
EO 14203 authorized visa restrictions and financial penalties against ICC officials investigating US citizens or allies, specifically Israel.
Sanctions were progressively expanded from prosecutor Karim Khan to four ICC judges and eventually 11 officials by December 2025.
A naval blockade of Venezuelan oil exports drew condemnation from UN experts as a violation of fundamental international law, with legal analysts characterizing it as an act of war imposed without Congressional authorization.
Trump announced a 'TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE' of sanctioned oil tankers going to and from Venezuela in December 2025.
UN experts declared the blockade violated 'fundamental rules of international law,' characterizing it as an unlawful use of force.
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Updated December 22, 2025Deportation & Immigration
ICE turned mandatory immigration court hearings into arrest traps, coordinating in real time with government attorneys to arrest immigrants whose cases were dismissed. Record-setting asylum denials, in absentia orders tripling to 50,000, and 'rocket dockets' processing cases too fast for legal representation destroyed systematic access to due process.
ICE agents arrested immigrants at mandatory immigration court hearings, using case dismissals as triggers for arrest in a coordinated 'deportation trap.'
Government attorneys and ICE officers coordinated in real time, with agents in hallways waiting to identify and arrest individuals whose cases were dismissed.
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Updated December 15, 2025Deportation & Immigration
The administration deported US military veterans including Purple Heart recipients wounded in combat, after replacing Biden-era protections that required ICE to consider military service. An estimated 94,000 non-citizen veterans face potential deportation.
An estimated 94,000 US military veterans lack citizenship, leaving them vulnerable to detention and deportation.
In April 2025, the Trump administration replaced Biden-era guidance requiring ICE to consider military service before arrests with a memo stating service alone 'doesn't automatically exempt aliens from the consequences of violating U.S. law.'
An executive order attempting to override the Fourteenth Amendment's birthright citizenship guarantee by executive fiat, blocked by every court to consider it and now before the Supreme Court.
EO 14160 attempted to deny citizenship to babies born in the U.S. to parents without lawful permanent status.
Four federal district courts and two appeals courts blocked the order as unconstitutional.
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Updated November 10, 2025Deportation & Immigration
Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law ConcernOngoingReported record
10,500+ people subjected to solitary confinement in immigration detention over 14 months, with usage surging under the Trump administration. Nearly 75% of placements exceeded the UN's 15-day torture threshold. DHS oversight offices were simultaneously decimated from 150 to 22 staff.
Over 10,500 people were placed in solitary confinement in immigration detention centers between April 2024 and May 2025.
The monthly rate of solitary confinement use under the second Trump administration was twice the rate from 2018-2023 and more than six times higher than during the end of the Biden administration.
The administration indefinitely suspended refugee resettlement and set the lowest admissions cap in US history at 7,500, prioritizing white Afrikaners, while stranding refugees mid-transit including families who had sold their belongings for the journey.
Executive order on January 20, 2025 indefinitely suspended the US Refugee Admissions Program effective January 27.
The FY 2026 refugee cap was set at 7,500 -- the lowest in US history, down from 125,000 under Biden -- with priority given to white South African Afrikaners.
DHS Secretary Noem terminated Venezuela TPS, and the Supreme Court allowed it to take effect, de-documenting approximately 350,000 people and exposing them to removal to a country the State Department itself has characterized as unstable and dangerous.
DHS Secretary Noem terminated TPS for Venezuela under the 2023 designation on February 5, 2025.
Approximately 350,000 Venezuelans lost legal status and work authorization.
Trump fired at least 17 inspectors general across the federal government without the advance notice to Congress that the Inspector General Act generally requires, and a later federal ruling said the notice failure violated the statute.
At least 17 inspectors general were removed in a single sweep across multiple agencies.
The Inspector General Act generally requires notice to Congress before removal.
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Updated September 3, 2025Deportation & Immigration
Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law ConcernOngoingActive litigation
The administration invoked a rarely used 1798 wartime statute to justify accelerated removals of Venezuelan nationals, including transfers into El Salvador's detention system, prompting immediate litigation over both process and statutory scope.
The proclamation treated Tren de Aragua activity as an 'invasion' or 'predatory incursion' under the Alien Enemies Act.
The government used the proclamation to argue for removals with sharply reduced individualized process.
Over 10,000 troops were deployed to the US-Mexico border for immigration enforcement. A federal judge found the administration 'willfully' violated the Posse Comitatus Act -- a foundational law separating military and civilian law enforcement dating to Reconstruction.
Over 10,000 active-duty troops were deployed to the US-Mexico border, expanding military authority to include detaining and searching civilians.
The Air Force annexed a 250-mile stretch of the Texas border as a 'national defense area.'
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Updated August 8, 2025Foreign Policy & War
Serious Rights ViolationOngoingOfficial executive action
The United States sanctioned a UN human rights investigator for performing the duties of her mandate, in what UN experts described as an unprecedented threat to the international human rights system.
Francesca Albanese was sanctioned under EO 14203 for engaging with the ICC in its investigation of Israel.
Sanctions include asset freezes, prohibition on donations and transfers, and suspension of U.S. entry.
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Updated July 15, 2025Deportation & Immigration
Serious Rights ViolationOngoingOfficial executive action
The administration reinstated 'Remain in Mexico,' forcing asylum seekers to wait in Mexican cities that the US State Department itself rates as 'Level 4: Do Not Travel' due to kidnapping and violence. MSF documented kidnapping rates as high as 75% among those returned under the policy.
DHS reinstated MPP on January 21, 2025, forcing asylum seekers to wait in Mexican border cities while their cases are processed in US immigration courts.
MSF documented that in one border city, 75% of MPP patients had been kidnapped while waiting in Mexico under the policy.
The administration imposed an unprecedented total ban on asylum claims at the southern border, shutting down the CBP One app and eliminating all avenues for protection. A federal judge ruled the president 'cannot adopt an alternative immigration system which supplants the statutes that Congress has enacted.'
Executive order signed January 20, 2025 suspended all asylum processing at the southern border and shut down the CBP One scheduling app.
The order declared an 'invasion' at the southern border and invoked emergency powers to bypass statutory asylum protections.
A Columbia graduate student with a green card was arrested by ICE for his role in Gaza solidarity protests and ordered deported on the novel grounds that his speech posed 'adverse foreign policy consequences,' establishing a dangerous precedent for using immigration enforcement to suppress political dissent.
Khalil was a lawful permanent resident (green card holder) arrested from his Columbia University campus apartment by ICE.
When ICE learned he held a green card rather than a student visa, agents said that status would be revoked too.
DHS terminated humanitarian parole for 532,000 people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, stripping legal status effective April 24, 2025. The Supreme Court allowed the mass revocation in a 7-2 ruling, and DHS urged affected individuals to 'self-deport immediately.'
Approximately 532,000 people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela had been granted humanitarian parole under the CHNV programs established in 2022-2023.
DHS published a Federal Register notice on March 25, 2025 terminating all CHNV parole, with parole expiring April 24, 2025.
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Updated June 6, 2025Deportation & Immigration
Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law ConcernOngoingActive litigation
Federal officials removed Kilmar Abrego Garcia to El Salvador despite a preexisting withholding order barring that destination, then spent weeks litigating what it meant to 'facilitate' his return after the Supreme Court intervened.
An immigration judge had already barred Abrego Garcia's removal to El Salvador.
Public reporting said he was transferred into El Salvador's CECOT prison system.
A sweeping executive order redefining sex across the federal government, with material consequences for transgender individuals in detention, healthcare, and civil documentation.
EO 14168 defines gender as an immutable male-female binary determined 'at conception,' rejecting gender identity as a legal category.
Transgender individuals in federal custody must be housed according to birth sex, increasing documented risk of sexual violence.
Trump used his first day back in office to grant sweeping clemency to January 6 defendants, including people convicted of violent attacks on police and leaders of groups convicted of seditious conspiracy.
The clemency action covered most January 6 defendants on Trump's first day back in office.
It extended to violent offenders and leaders of groups convicted of seditious conspiracy.