UN human rights chief urges US to uphold international law in immigration crackdown

By Olivia Le Poidevin

GENEVA, Jan 23 (Reuters) – The U.N. human rights chief urged the Trump administration on Friday to ensure that its migration policies respect individual rights and international law, citing concerns over arbitrary and unlawful arrests and detentions.

“Individuals are being surveilled and detained, sometimes violently including at hospitals, churches, mosques, courthouses, markets, schools, and even within their own homes, often solely on mere suspicion of being undocumented migrants,” the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, said in a statement.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown has seen some 3,000 heavily armed masked federal officers deployed to the city of Minneapolis, rounding up suspects they say are dangerous criminal immigration violators, while sometimes ensnaring law-abiding U.S. citizens and immigrants.

The city is on edge after an immigration officer shot and killed Renee Good, 37, a U.S. citizen and mother of three on January 7. Vice President JD Vance delivered a broad defense on Thursday, saying that “far-left agitators” and uncooperative local officials were to blame for chaos on the streets.

U.S. immigration enforcement operations have used what appears to be unnecessary or disproportionate force, Turk said. Such measures should only be used as a last resort if an individual posed an immediate threat to life, he added.

Turk said the U.S. must comply with international law and that migration enforcement must respect due process, voicing concern that, in some cases, people arrested or detained had not been granted timely access to legal advice.

He called for an independent investigation into the rising number of deaths in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody. He cited 30 deaths reported in 2025 and six recorded so far this year. 

Turk condemned what he called the routine denigration of migrants and refugees in the United States that portrays them as criminals or a burden on society, saying it increased their “exposure to xenophobic hostility and abuse”.

(Reporting by Olivia Le PoidevinEditing by Gareth Jones)