Below you’ll find breaking news as well as reports, updates on our campaigns, and victories.
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Press Release
Ninth Circuit Hears Arguments Regarding Muslim and Refugee Ban
“This ban is nothing more than an effort to write anti-Muslim bigotry into law,” said Margaret Huang, executive director of Amnesty International USA.
May 15, 2017
Press Release
Amnesty International Mobilizes Members for National Week of Resistance Against Muslim Ban
This week Amnesty International is mobilizing its 1.2 million members and supporters in the U.S. to join with the American Civil Liberties Union, Asian Americans Advancing Justice, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, National Immigration Law Center and others to take action opposing the Muslim ban for the National Week of Resistance. Activists will rally outside of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, VA on May 8 as well as the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Seattle, WA on May 15. Throughout the week, activists will be contacting their members of Congress to demand they override the ban.…
May 8, 2017
Press Release
Secretary Kelly’s Cruel Remarks Attack the Rights of Asylum-Seekers
Secretary Kelly has commented on the deportation of a young mother and child who sought asylum from horrific violence and human rights abuses in Honduras. According to Senator Bob Casey, the mother and child fled Honduras to the United States after witnessing the murder of a cousin and being pursued by gangs. They were held in an immigration detention facility in Berks County, Pennsylvania before being deported without ever presenting their full case in front of an immigration judge. Amnesty International USA recently launched a campaign urging Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to release several other families with young children…
May 4, 2017
Press Release
Young Mother and Child to be Imminently Deported Without a Full Asylum Hearing
According to Senator Bob Casey, a young mother and child who sought asylum from horrific violence and human rights abuses in Honduras have been ordered deported despite not being able to present their full case in front of an immigration judge. Mother and child fled Honduras to the United States after witnessing the murder of a cousin and being pursued by gangs. The family had sought review by the U.S. Supreme Court while being held in an immigration detention facility in Berks County, Pennsylvania, but were denied. Amnesty International USA launched a campaign in March urging Immigration and Customs Enforcement…
May 3, 2017
Press Release
Afghanistan: Civilian casualties show how unsafe it is for refugees to be returned
Attacks on civilians in the first three months of this year and the inability of the Afghan government to ensure their adequate protection show that Afghanistan remains an unsafe country for refugees to be returned to, Amnesty International said today. “At a time when civilian casualties remain high, with women and children suffering the worst of the violence, it is reckless of governments to claim that Afghanistan is safe for refugees to return,” said Horia Mosadiq, Amnesty International’s Afghanistan Researcher. Since the withdrawal of the international military forces from Afghanistan at the end of 2014 the security situation in the…
April 27, 2017
Press Release
100 Ways Trump Has Threatened Human Rights in First 100 Days
As the first 100 days of President Donald Trump’s administration come to a close, Amnesty International has compiled a list of 100 ways the Trump administration has tried to threaten human rights in the U.S. and around the world – sometimes succeeding, and sometimes being blocked by a powerful and growing resistance movement.
April 24, 2017
Press Release
Court Blocks Four Families from Being Deported in Case that Underscores Urgent Need for Reform
A judge today temporarily blocked the federal government from deporting four families who fled violence to seek asylum in the United States. The government was cleared to move forward with the deportations after the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this week refused to hear a case on the matter. With today’s order, the four children and their mothers will not be deported while they continue fighting to get asylum in the U.S.
April 19, 2017
Press Release
Sec. Kelly’s DHS Goodwill Tour Ignores Effect of Inhumane Policies
After Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly delivered remarks this morning on the agency’s role on immigration, among other issues, Margaret Huang, executive director of Amnesty International USA, had the following reaction.
April 18, 2017
Press Release
Supreme Court Denial Must Not Result in Deportation of Asylum-Seeking Families
The Supreme Court will not hear a case brought by more than two dozen families who have been ordered deported without having their full cases heard by an immigration judge. The families fled horrific violence and human rights abuses in Central America. Many of the families have been held for more than a year in immigration detention facilities, most recently in Berks County, Pennsylvania. The denial by the Supreme Court could result in the families being deported imminently.
April 17, 2017
Press Release
Amnesty International USA: Sessions’ Hateful Policy Criminalizes People Protected by International Law
Today, Attorney General Jeff Sessions delivered a speech on immigration to Customs and Border Protection in Nogales, Arizona, and issued a new policy memo prioritizing criminal immigration enforcement along the U.S. southern border. Naureen Shah, senior director of campaigns at Amnesty International USA, had the following reaction: “This is bigotry, plain and simple. The Attorney General should apologize for these remarks and, more importantly, the Trump Administration should stop basing policy affecting refugees and immigrants on fear and bigotry. This criminalization of people seeking asylum and immigrants is just the latest malicious attempt to close our borders in the name…
April 11, 2017
Press Release
Syria: UN Security Council must take decisive action after Idleb chemical attack
Evidence gathered is suggesting a nerve agent was used in an air-launched chemical attack which killed more than 70 and injured hundreds of civilians in Khan Sheikhoun in Syria’s northern province of Idleb, Amnesty International revealed as the UN Security Council meets for an emergency meeting in New York this morning.
April 5, 2017
Report
Treasure Island: How Companies Are Profiting from Australia’s Abuse of Refugees on Nauru
A major corporation responsible for running the Australian government’s refugee “processing” centre on Nauru is making millions of dollars from a system that amounts to torture of refugees and people seeking asylum, Amnesty International said today.
April 3, 2017