UN rights chief on migrants in US: Where is concern for their dignity?
By Kielce Gussie
According to official data published by the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency, the number of people who have been detained jumped 65% in 2025—a record high of about 70,000 by the end of December.
The United Nation’s top human rights official raised the alarm over this sharp rise affecting migrants in the United States. High Commissioner Volker Türk said he is “astounded by the now-routine abuse and denigration of migrants and refugees. Where is the concern for their dignity, and our common humanity?”
A ripple effect
In a news release published on January 23, the UN rights chief described how individuals, who are suspected of being undocumented, are monitored, arrested, and detained—often violently—at sites such as hospitals, places of worship, courthouses, schools, markets, and private homes.
Türk stressed that there are a number of migration policies currently being enacted by U.S. authorities which have led to random and unlawful arrests and detentions. A Statista report revealed that, as of early January 2026, over 40% of people “arrested and currently detained by ICE were neither convicted criminals nor were they facing pending criminal charges.”
The UN rights chief expressed his astonishment “by the now-routine abuse and denigration of migrants and refugees.” This has created fear, which has spread throughout communities. Consequently, Türk pointed out that children miss school and doctors’ appointments out of fear their parents may not return.
As the UN rights chief noted, the situation is not just limited to migrants or refugees. Those who speak up or protest “against heavy-handed immigration raids are vilified and threatened by officials, and on occasion subjected to arbitrary violence themselves”, Türk said.
Within the scope of the law
While the U.S. as a nation has the right to implement and carry out migration policies, the UN rights chief underlined that the government must exercise them “in full accordance with the law.”
If due process is not followed, Türk warned “it will more broadly erode public trust, diminish legal certainty, weaken institutional legitimacy, and violate individuals’ rights.”
With that in mind, he expressed concern over the use of large-scale enforcement operations, which have repeatedly applied unnecessary or disproportionate force. International law makes it clear, the UN rights chief stressed, that “the intentional use of lethal force is only permissible as a measure of last resort against an individual representing an imminent threat to life.”
Keeping families together
With all the statistics and reports, it is important to look past the numbers and see the “human cost of these practices”, as Türk pointed out.
Particularly looking at families, he underscored how many of the arrests, detentions, and deportations have not focused on keeping them together. This puts children at risk of severe and long-term harm.
“I call on the Administration to end practices that are tearing apart families,” said the UN rights chief. He also advocated for independent and transparent investigations into the reported rise in deaths within ICE custody.
A nation built of migrants
Türk noted that the history of the United States “has been shaped profoundly by the contributions that migrants, from all parts of the world” have made and continue to make for the nation.
“Demonizing migrants and refugees collectively as criminals, threats, or burdens on society – based on their origin, nationality or migration status – is inhuman, wrong, and it goes against the very fabric and foundations of the nation,” the UN rights chief stressed.
He also called for leaders on every level in the United States to stop “scapegoating tactics that seek to distract and divide”, which, in turn, expose migrants and refugees to “xenophobic hostility and abuse.”
Thank you for reading our article. You can keep up-to-date by subscribing to our daily newsletter. Just click here
