This Left-Wing Group Wants UN Probe of Trump Over Minnesota Enforcement
Fred Lucas /
One of America’s most well-known left-leaning legal groups has asked the United Nations to investigate the Trump administration, alleging human rights violations and racial discrimination by federal agents in Minnesota.
The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Minnesota sent an “urgent submission” to the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, or CERD, regarding federal immigration enforcement and treatment of protesters in the state.
The U.N. committee defines early warning measures as “aimed at preventing existing situations escalating into conflicts.” It defines urgent procedures as responding to “problems requiring immediate attention to prevent or limit the scale or number of serious violations.”
The ACLU request calls for the U.N. committee to use its early warning and urgent action procedures to probe alleged violations of international human rights obligations.
“The Trump administration’s egregious crackdown in Minnesota is not only flouting the Constitution but also United States international human rights obligations that prohibit the use of racial and ethnic profiling, extra-judicial killings and unlawful use of force against protesters and observers,” said Jamil Dakwar, director the Human Rights Program at the American Civil Liberties Union.
The ACLU’s submission argues that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have stopped and arrested residents of Minnesota based on race, ethnicity, and national origin, which is a violation of rights enshrined in the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, or ICERD.
The United States signed on to the convention in 1994.
“We are calling on the United Nations to hold the U.S. government accountable for its blatant violations of international law and to officially report on its disregard for their human rights treaty obligations,” Dakwar added.
Dakwar is a longstanding critic of President Donald Trump, posting on X, formerly Twitter, after the 2020 election, “No matter who wins, it’s deeply concerning that millions more Americans chose to support Trump since 2016 despite his clear record of mishandling the pandemic, endorsing racism, violence and misogyny, dehumanizing migrants, and defying scientists and public health experts.”
In May 2020, after Trump announced Antifa would be classified as a domestic terrorist group, Dakwar posted, “We repeatedly warned against Trump’s authoritarianism but this move is very dangerous and seriously threatens basic civil liberties and human rights.”
“He is promoting white supremacy agenda and abusing presidential powers,” Dakwar said.
In December, ICE increased deployment to the twin cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, but began a drawdown of agents this week. Also, ICE agents fatally shot two anti-ICE agitators in matters under internal investigation.
The ACLU asserts federal agents ignored human rights in their enforcement activity, and have unfairly targeted Somali and Latino communities.
Neither ICE nor the Department of Homeland Security immediately responded to inquiries for this story.
The press offices for the U.N. and the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights did not immediately respond to inquiries for this story.