Human Rights First

President and CEO Uzra Zeya’s Remarks to Macaulay Honors College Commencement Upon Acceptance of Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters

Thank you, Dean Byrne, Director Sviridov, Provost Meeks, and distinguished faculty members for this extraordinary honor and one that I never imagined was possible. I’d like to think my late mother is ...
Human Rights First

Russia’s Enforcement of Child Porn Law Threatens Internet Freedom

Russia is in the news again: this time for using a new law aimed at curbing internet child pornography, drug use, and suicide to instead limit internet speech. The authorities’ implementation of this ...
Human Rights First

Record Number of U.S. Immigration Enforcement Flights Underscores Growing Human Cost of Trump Administration’s Immigration Crackdown

Washington, D.C. — A new report released today by ICE Flight Monitor, housed at Human Rights First, exposes the human toll of the Trump administration’s deportation campaign. In September 2025 the ...
Human Rights First

Labor Trafficking and Sex Trafficking: Equally Critical, Unequally Prioritized

On July 12, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC) and the House Foreign Affairs Committee (HFAC) Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations Subcommittee held ...
Human Rights First

Human Rights First Condemns El Salvador’s Ongoing Arbitrary Detention of Ruth Lopez Alfaro and Demands Her Immediate Release

Washington, D.C. — Human Rights First strongly condemns the arbitrary detention without trial of Ruth López Alfaro by the Government of El Salvador one year after her unjust arrest. The Salvadoran ...
Human Rights First

Bahrain’s Rulers Return to 2011 Repression Methods Torture in Custody and Widespread Repression Resurface in Latest Attacks on Dissent

Bahrain’s ruling family has returned to its severe repression of a decade and a half ago in the context of the United States’ war on Iran. It has embarked on a fresh wave of arrests, stripping ...
Human Rights First

Trump Administration’s Halt in Processing of All Asylum Applications is Punitive, Extreme, and Undermines Our National Interest

Washington, D.C. — Human Rights First is appalled by the Trump administration’s extreme and punitive action to halt all immigration processing, including permanent residence and citizenship, and to re ...
Human Rights First

Stop Enabling ICE’s Dangerous Detention and Reckless Deportation Drive Oppose Additional Funding in the FY2026 Homeland Security Appropriations Bill

Congress is poised to further balloon the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) already bloated budget, expanding ICE’s sprawling detention apparatus at a time of record deaths in detention. The ...
Human Rights First

Human Rights First Analysis of the Trump Administration’s Initial Immigration Executive Actions

On the first day of the Trump-Vance Administration, the President issued a host of anti-immigrant and -refugee Executive Orders that undermine our national security, tarnish our global reputation, and ...
Human Rights First

Domestic Extremism in America: Examining White Supremacist Violence in the Wake of Recent Attacks

Chairman Peters, Ranking Member Portman, and esteemed members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to contribute to this critical discussion on examining white supremacist violence in the ...
Human Rights First

A New Era of ICE Family Prisons

In early 2025, the second Trump administration began detaining immigrant families and children, and by April, the Dilley Immigration Processing Center (“Dilley”) became the sole active family ...