On Wednesday, March 11, 2026, the Geneva-based Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), a panel of 18 independent experts, issued a decision under its early warning protocol saying that “Racist hate speech by political leaders, including the President, combined with intensified immigration crackdowns in the United States, notably near schools, hospitals and faith-based institutions, has sparked grave human rights violations.” The decision is not legally binding. Axios and The Guardian described it as an unprecedented singling out of a U.S. president by a UN body.
The committee said it was “deeply disturbed” by derogatory and dehumanizing language aimed at migrants, refugees and asylum seekers, and that “Portraying them as criminals or as a burden, by politicians and influential public figures at the highest level, particularly the President,” may “incite racial discrimination and hate crimes.” It cited “systematic use of racial profiling and arbitrary identity checks” by ICE and CBP, and a rise in immigration detention from nearly 40,000 people in late 2024 to about 73,000 in early 2026. AP noted the committee did not point to specific data for its finding of a rise in racial discrimination.
The report said “discriminatory, dangerous and violent methods” had left eight people dead in the previous three months, including Alex Pretti and Renee Good, U.S. citizens killed in separate shootings by federal agents during Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota. It said the use of lethal force in those cases was tantamount to “arbitrary deprivation of life and other gross violations of international human rights law.”
White House spokesperson Olivia Wales said, “This United Nations assessment is just as useless as their broken escalator, and their extreme bias continues to prove why no one takes them seriously,” and pointed to Trump's record on crime and the border.
Correction (October 14, 2026): This entry previously dated the decision to March 12, 2026; it was issued on Wednesday, March 11. The title and text previously said the panel accused Trump “by name” and stated as fact that this was the first time a UN body had done so to a U.S. president. The decision refers to “the President” rather than naming him, and the “unprecedented” characterization is now attributed to the outlets that made it. A dead Washington Post link was dropped.