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Press Release

Leading up to World Refugee Day today, more than two dozen human rights, immigrant rights, and civil rights advocates along with service providers have launched a series of actions designed to advocate for people seeking safety and the release of immigrants and asylum-seekers from immigrant detention centers. As cases of COVID-19 continue to increase in states where people are being held in immigration detention, particularly states such as Texas and Louisiana, it is critical that immediate action is taken to keep them safe. 

June 20, 2020

Press Release

In response to the Supreme Court rejecting the Trump administration's attempt to end the DACA program, Charanya Krishnaswami, Advocacy Director for the Americas at Amnesty International USA, released the following statement: 

June 18, 2020

Update

Amnesty International statement to the UN Human Rights Council on the killing of George Floyd and other black people by U.S. police.

June 18, 2020

Press Release

Responding to President Trump signing the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act into law, Joanne Lin, National Director, Advocacy and Government Affairs for Amnesty International USA, released the following statement.  “Today, the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020, which passed Congress overwhelmingly and was widely supported by Republican and Democratic lawmakers, was signed into law. This historic legislation sets into place a reporting system requiring the U.S. government to identify individuals who have committed torture, abduction, prolonged detention, and other human rights violations against Uyghurs and condemns the mass arbitrary detention of Uyghurs.  “For years, the Chinese government has wrongfully…

June 17, 2020

Press Release

Responding to an Executive Order by United States President Donald J. Trump on policing, Kristina Roth, the Senior Program Officer for Criminal Justice Programs at Amnesty International USA, said:

June 16, 2020

Press Release

Following the announcement that the U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear multiple Second Amendment cases, Ernest Coverson, Campaign Manager for the End Gun Violence Campaign at Amnesty International USA, released the following statement: 

June 15, 2020

Press Release

In reaction to the Supreme Court ruling that the 1964 Civil Rights Act barring sex discrimination in the workplace protects LGBTQ employees from being fired because of their sexual orientation, Tarah Demant, Director of the Gender, Sexuality, and Identity Program at Amnesty International USA released the following statement:

June 15, 2020

Press Release

Responding to United States President Donald J. Trump's attack against the International Criminal Court, Daniel Balson, the advocacy director for Amnesty International USA said: "The Trump administration has a well-honed pattern of undermining and all-out assaults on multilateral institutions, rather than doing the sometimes difficult, but necessary work of joining them, sustaining them, and working to improve them. Today's announcement is yet another assault on vital institutions that help people look after one another and provide survivors of rights abuses with justice. "The vague and open-ended language in the executive order could leave open the possibility that NGO workers, activists,…

June 11, 2020

Press Release

As protests in the wake of George Floyd's killing spur a ripple effect of change around the country, and around the world, Amnesty International is calling for a ban on the use of facial recognition technology by police for mass surveillance purposes, to address racially discriminatory policing and racial profiling of Black people. "Black people throughout our communities already experience disproportionate abuses of privacy and basic rights, and surveillance only exacerbates the potential for abuses", said Michael Kleinman, the director of Amnesty International USA’s Silicon Valley Initiative. "We are seeing these violations play out daily as police departments across the…

June 11, 2020

Press Release

Tear Gas: An investigation is the organization’s interactive, multimedia site looking into what tear gas is, how it is used and documenting scores of cases of its misuse by security forces worldwide, often resulting in severe injuries or death. The site is especially relevant today. It comes on the anniversary of the Hong Kong Police Force beginning its months-long barrage of tear gas against peaceful demonstrations – which has recently been renewed.

June 11, 2020

Press Release

Responding to a new Trump administration regulation that radically restricts who qualifies for asylum, Charanya Krishnaswami, the advocacy director for the Americas, said: “While a rash of recent policies has gutted the process of seeking asylum, this new rule is the Trump administration’s most dramatic attempt yet to redefine who qualifies for this vital protection. Even after the current asylum ban implemented under the guise of fighting the COVID-19 pandemic is lifted, the dozens of new changes these regulations make to asylum laws, which practically write the refugee definition out of existence, will be profound and potentially long-lasting.  “The Trump…

June 10, 2020

Update

PDF version June 8, 2020   The Honorable James E. Risch Chairman Senate Foreign Relations Committee 423 Dirksen Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510   The Honorable Eliot L. Engel Chairman House Foreign Affairs Committee 2170 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515   Dear Chairman Risch and Chairman Engel, As non-governmental organizations that work to protect human rights and rule of law-based governance, we write to express our support for the bipartisan, bicameral Protecting Human Rights During Pandemic Act (PHRDPA) (S. 3819 / H.R. 6986). The PHRDPA would enable the U.S. government to take meaningful action in the face…

June 8, 2020