Submission to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights: Suppression of Freedom of Expression in the Context of Immigration Protests in the United States
Executive Summary
Since Donald Trump returned to office in January 2025, the United States government has carried out pervasive human rights abuses at an alarming level, violating domestic, regional, and international law, including the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man (“American Declaration”). The University Network for Human Rights (“UNHR”) has partnered with civil society organizations and legal clinics to synthesize the overwhelming body of open-source evidence of unprecedented State abuses. This evidence has revealed that the United States’ repression of immigration protests has been extreme, pervasive, and systematic.
This submission documents the State’s repeated use of excessive force during protests, including the use of less lethal and lethal weapons against protestors, bystanders, and non-violent observers, resulting in grave injuries and death. In many cases, law enforcement has used force disproportionate to the actions of protesters, violating Inter-American standards on the use of force in protest contexts. With respect to less-lethal weapons, this has been evident through countless acts of unjustified violence by State agents, resulting in severe physical harm to protesters across the country. Of particular note were State agents’ firing of pepper-ball rounds, as in the cases of Reverends Black and Bautista; the repeated and excessive deployment of chemical agents against protesters; and the firing of aerial warning munitions directly at protesters in Los Angeles (see Section II.A.i).
The most egregious and notorious instances of State agents’ unjustified use of lethal force are the killings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti. Federal agents shot and killed Mr. Pretti while he was monitoring United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”). A federal agent killed Ms. Good after she observed immigration enforcement in her neighborhood. In both instances, government officials sought to justify the killings without prior investigation (see Sections II.A.ii and III). The State has specifically targeted groups in situations of special risk, such as journalists and human rights defenders (see Sections II.A.iv and II.A.v).
Rather than adequately investigating these violations, U.S. officials have instead effectively criminalized protest of the State’s immigration practices. There have been numerous reports of mass arrests for assault and interference with law enforcement, a charge that reports suggest has been deployed to punish legitimate observation of federal authorities’ policing practices. In at least one instance, authorities reportedly arrested a protester, Paul Johnson, at the hospital and prevented him from contacting his family or attorney, all before charging him with a crime (see Section II.B.i). These examples demonstrate the arbitrary detention of protesters, monitors, and bystanders of ICE conduct, which directly threatens to chill free expression.
Additionally, through the introduction of the Executive Order “Designating Antifa as a Domestic Terrorist Organization”, and National Security Presidential Memorandum 7 (“NSPM-7”), the State has taken administrative and legal measures to weaponize the legal system to create concrete punishments for protesters exercising the freedom of expression (see Section II.B.iii.). For instance, 15 protesters at the Prairieland Detention Center were recently sentenced to over a combined 550 years in federal prison. Following the September 2025 issuance of NSPM-7, federal agents have told protesters or monitors that they will be added to a domestic terrorism watchlist for monitoring agents, further chilling expression (See Section II.B.ii).
Finally, when rights abuses have occurred, the State has failed to adequately investigate or seek accountability for those responsible on several occasions. Most notably, there has been no meaningful and independent investigation into Renée Good’s killing; the investigation into Alex Pretti’s killing did not conform to conventions for federal investigations into the use of excessive force, and when local actors have attempted to investigate, federal officials have acted to prevent their access to evidence. U.S. government officials have directly intervened to stop investigations from occurring, dismantled oversight mechanisms that existed within the Department of Homeland Security since its creation, and limited the scope of federal law enforcement investigations (See Section II.C).
In light of the above, UNHR seeks to bring the attention of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (“IACHR”) to the grave consequences for the rule of law and democracy in the United States, in the Americas, and globally.