Trump's immigration enforcement is accused of widespread human rights violations in a new report - Toronto Star
The Amnesty International findings should have repercussions for how Canada admits refugees, experts say.
Federal agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Chicago last September.
The Trump administration has been accused of widespread human rights violations stemming from its “militarized immigration enforcement” in a new report that critics say Ottawa — and all Canadians — should heed.
Based on field research, Amnesty International USA documented incidents where officials with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Protection and other federal agencies were alleged to have breached the rights of migrants, bystanders and protesters.
The accusations included unlawful killings, some of which Amnesty said may amount to extrajudicial executions; racial profiling; arbitrary and discriminatory arrest; “incommunicado detentions,” in some cases in conditions that it said may violate the prohibition on torture; unlawful surveillance; and violent repression of peaceful protests.
“They were neither isolated nor exceptional, but characteristic of the manner in which the operations were conducted and reflective of broader national patterns,” said the 137-page report, “We Had Whistles. They Had Guns,” released on Thursday.
The Trump administration has defended its enforcement operations as lawful and necessary, claiming to target only criminal aliens, gang members and those who are national security threats.
Stories of Canadians arrested and detained in U.S. have made headlines since Trump returned to the White House last year doubling down on immigration enforcement effort. The fear of being detained at the American border has contributed to the dramatic drop in Canadian travel to the U.S.
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