Since Trump has taken office, his administration has taken weekly if not daily actions that threaten the rights of U.S. citizens as well as non-citizens who are within the U.S., whether legally or not.
The Trump administration’s targeting of those with temporary or even permanent legal status has immediate impacts on PBI-USA as a key part of our work is supporting the visits of human rights defenders to the U.S. for meetings with U.S. and international officials.
Collaborating with our partners all around the world is important to maintaining a strong PBI community. As we prepare for our upcoming National Gathering, we are already hearing from partners their fears of traveling to the United States under the Trump administration’s new immigration policies, which could result in any non-citizen being detained by U.S. officials. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials are closely screening those entering the U.S. as well as those traveling domestically and detaining non-citizens suspected of bearing hostile attitudes towards the U.S. or posing any threat to U.S. national security, which the administration is broadly defining.
On Saturday, March 15, NPR reported: “Secretary of State Marco Rubio says he’s kicking out the new Ambassador from South Africa — accusing him of hating America and hating Donald Trump.” The ambassador gave a speech on Friday in which he stated that “South Africa needed to be cautious and diplomatic in dealing with Trump’s administration,” resulting in outrage from Rubio and the Trump Administration. Apparently, hating Donald Trump warrants expulsion from the U.S. under the administration’s new policies for non-U.S. citizens and in some cases U.S. citizens. In the case of the ambassador, there does not seem to be any evidence that the ambassador hates Trump or intended to express any hostility towards the United States through his statement.
Creating a program of mass deportations has been Trump’s plan since day 1.
Shortly after Trump’s inauguration, the White House reverted to using the term “alien” rather than non-citizen. Early in Biden’s presidency, Biden issued an order directing federal agencies to use the words “non-citizen” or “migrant” when referring to documented and undocumented immigrants in the U.S. The Trump administration has now readopted the use of the term alien.
In addition to readopting the term alien, the Trump administration has also redefined who is considered a criminal in the context of immigration law. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked in a press briefing whether the Trump administration would focus deportation efforts on those who had committed crimes. Leavitt responded by stating that “if you are an individual, a foreign national, who illegally enters the United States of America, you are, by definition, a criminal.” However, the Trump administration has targeted both those potentially guilty of a civil violation (such as overstaying a visa) as well as those who may have entered illegally (which is a criminal offense).
USA Today reports that the Trump administration has arrested and detained multiple women such as Camila Muñoz who overstayed their visa, have no criminal record and strong ties to the U.S., but are not yet U.S. citizens. Muñoz, from Peru, is married to a U.S. citizen and was going through the process to obtain U.S. citizenship; however, she was arrested while taking a domestic flight with her husband to Puerto Rico.
Even Muñoz’s husband, a Trump voter, expressed his surprise that the Trump administration was pursuing non-citizens like his wife rather than focusing on the violent criminals.
The detention of Muñoz and others represents a shift in U.S. immigration policy. Citing national security concerns, Trump has ordered the screening of “aliens” who are within the United States, as well as those seeking entry, calling for resources to ensure that all “are vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible.” He has called for tightened screening standards for any immigrant seeking a “visa of any kind” or any kind of immigration benefit.
The order states that the government will “vet and screen to the maximum extent possible all aliens” who attempt to enter or have been admitted into or otherwise entered the United States, especially those coming from regions or nations with identified security risks.
Under the order, the United States “must ensure that admitted aliens [remember, this means non-citizens legally admitted to the U.S.] and aliens otherwise already present in the United States do not bear hostile attitudes toward its citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles, and do not advocate for, aid, or support designated foreign terrorists and other threats to our national security.”
Additionally, Trump has signed into law the Laken-Riley Act passed by Congress in January 2025 which removes due process rights for migrants under its mandatory detention provisions. Such provisions require that “low-risk individuals, like an undocumented ten-year old merely accused of stealing a pack of gum, must be detained by ICE.
Concerns are already being raised regarding the impact these new immigration policies could have on not only the human rights of those targeted but the Constitutional rights, especially First Amendment “Free Speech” rights, of those lawfully in the U.S., particularly lawful permanent residents who have seemingly been targeted simply for their speech.
MAHMOUD KHALIL
On Saturday, March 8, reports began to surface of the arrest by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials of a student protest leader at Columbia University, Mahmoud Khalil, who has legal permanent resident status and is now a graduate of the university.
According to reports, Khalil is an Algerian citizen of Palestinian descent who is expecting a baby soon with his wife, a U.S. citizen, who presented Khalil’s green card to officials before the arrest; however, the officials, who were dressed in plain clothes, driving unmarked cars, and who refused to present a warrant, moved forward with detaining him, stating his green card was being revoked and threatening his wife with arrest if she were to interfere.
On Monday, March 10, Judge Furman of the Southern District of New York ordered that Mahmoud Khalil not be removed from the United States and that all parties meet in court on Wednesday in response to Khalil’s habeas petition, which was filed March 9, the morning after his arrest. Trump posted on social media in response to Khalil’s arrest: “This is the first arrest of many to come.”
CNN reports: “At Tuesday’s [March 11] briefing, Leavitt said Secretary of State Marco Rubio has the authority to revoke a green card or a visa for those whose “activities in the United States would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences” to the country.”
John Sandweg, former acting director for ICE, told CNN on Monday: “Using those immigration law provisions to deport a green card holder is rare. They are typically used if ICE alleges a person was providing direct financial or operational support to a terror organization,” he added. “It is far less common for ICE to allege that political views or speech renders a green card holder deportable under the terrorism grounds as that raises significant First Amendment concerns,” Sandweg said.
At the March 12 hearing, Judge Furman gave attorneys for both sides until noon on March 14 to file a joint letter proposing next steps in the case.
Mahmoud remains in detention in Louisiana despite efforts by his attorneys to have him released or moved to New York. His attorneys have also requested his release to allow Mahmoud to be present during the birth of his child next month.
Other protestors at Columbia have also been targeted, with one student choosing to self-deport to Canada. The Trump administration has issued letters to 60 universities that it is investigating for antisemitic discrimination and harassment. Some universities have taken drastic actions to comply with the orders from the Trump administration, which includes adopting the Trump administration’s definition of antisemitism, which some argue targets and criminalizes Pro-Palestinian speech.
ALIEN ENEMIES ACT
On Friday evening, March 14, Trump moved forward with an order to invoke the Alien Enemies Act. A judge ruled quickly on Saturday morning to stop Trump’s deportations under the order. As reported by the AP, U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg stated that the need to issue an immediate order was in response to the the fact that U.S. officials were already “flying migrants it claimed were newly deportable under Trump’s [order] to be incarcerated in El Salvador and Honduras.”
The U.S. would pay El Salvador $6 million to imprison 300 alleged members of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang in El Salvador’s notorious prison, the Center for the Confinement of Terrorism built in 2023.
Invoking the Alien Enemies Act would allow the Trump administration to detain and remove, without due process, anyone designated as part of the so-called invasion at the U.S./Mexico border including those with legal status. However, legal obstacles have already presented themselves because the Act was intended to be invoked to address threats from another sovereign government. Trump, rather, seeks to apply the law to criminal gangs that the U.S. has designated as foreign terrorist organizations that they accuse of invading the U.S.
In Congress, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has introduced a bill to designate antifa a domestic terrorist organization. The bill provides that the conduct of Antifa members or any unlawful conduct performed at an Antifa-affiliated demonstration is deemed to be domestic terrorism.
As an example, if this bill were to pass, acts of civil disobedience, such as sitting down in a road, could be deemed domestic terrorism by linking the demonstration in question with Antifa, which is not an organization but an ideology that opposes fascism. Free speech could also be stifled by linking any group speaking out against fascism or the Trump administration to Antifa.
The Trump administration’s attacks against the civil liberties and human rights of any individual is truly a threat against the rights we all hold as residents and citizens of the United States.
We will continue to monitor Trump’s immigration policies, especially as it relates to our ability to host our partners and the human rights defenders we accompany.
For further reading, see Implications of a Second Trump Presidency (March 2025)