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A Federal Protective Service officer stands guard outside an ICE facility in Portland, Oregon, on October 26, 2025. — Reuters
– Trump’s return to the White House has deepened the decline of rights.
– Human Rights Watch condemns the erosion of the rules-based international order.
– Highlights include racial and ethnic scapegoating in the U.S. alongside ICE enforcement actions.
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WASHINGTON: Human Rights Watch issued a stark warning Wednesday, suggesting that President Donald Trump’s leadership is pushing the U.S. toward authoritarianism, amid a global downturn in democratic freedoms to levels not seen in the past forty years.
The advocacy group’s annual report states that Trump’s re-election has worsened an already fragile human rights landscape, which is also under stress from Russia’s actions. HRW asserts, “The rules that support an international order are being dismantled.”
Within the U.S., HRW criticizes Trump for showing “clear disregard for human rights and serious violations,” including the deployment of masked, armed ICE agents who have conducted “hundreds of unnecessarily violent and abusive raids.” The report details a shift toward authoritarian tendencies, including racial and ethnic scapegoating, the use of National Guard forces for pretextual power grabs, retaliations against political critics, and efforts to expand executive powers while weakening democratic checks.
The organization also reiterated its findings of enforced disappearances—an international crime—when the U.S. transferred 252 Venezuelan migrants to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador. HRW reports that these detainees, who later entered Venezuela, have alleged torture, beatings, and sexual violence.
HRW compared the state of American democracy to that of 1985, when the Soviet Union still existed, noting that both Russia and the U.S. are now less free than they were two decades ago. Philippe Bolopion, HRW’s executive director, called for international alliances rooted in respect for human rights, democracy, and law, emphasizing that such coalitions can offer security and moral authority, even against a formidable figure like Trump.
The 529-page report contrasts with the U.S. State Department’s recent human rights report, which portrayed countries like El Salvador—under President Nayib Bukele—as having seen little to no significant abuses in 2024, citing low crime rates. HRW acknowledges a decline in gang-related violence but highlights ongoing abuses, including mass detentions, enforced disappearances, torture, and breaches of due process in 2025.
The report also accuses Israel of committing “crimes against humanity,” including genocide and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Gaza. It details what HRW describes as an escalation of atrocities by Israeli forces in 2025, involving the killing, injury, displacement, and destruction of Palestinian homes and infrastructure on an unprecedented scale. Israel has vigorously rejected the genocide allegations, with the U.S. supporting Israel’s stance.
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