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Trump has attacked pillars of democracy, says Human Rights Watch

Published: 05 Feb. 2026, 09:42

U.S. President Donald Trump gestures as he addresses House Republicans at their annual issues conference retreat, at the Kennedy Center, renamed the Trump-Kennedy Center by the Trump-appointed board of directors, in Washington on Jan. 6. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

U.S. President Donald Trump has attacked key pillars of his country's democracy, Human Rights Watch warned on Wednesday in its annual global report, citing the Republican president's immigration crackdown, threats to voting rights and other policies.

In an introduction to the report — which reviews human rights practices in more than 100 countries — the head of the prominent independent New York-based rights group largely focused on the United States at a time when the Trump administration has shifted away from U.S. support for human rights globally, not only praising prominent autocratic rulers but showing little interest in reining them in.

Human Rights Watch Executive Director Philippe Bolopion wrote that Washington was now helping countries such as Russia and China undermine human rights.

"In 2026, the fight for the future of human rights will play out most sharply in the U.S., with consequences for the rest of the world," he said in a video launching the report on Wednesday.

Bolopion then told reporters: "We see a sort of very hostile environment in the U.S. and a very rapid decline of [...] the quality of democracy in this country."

The White House said Human Rights Watch suffers from "Trump Derangement Syndrome" and had attacked Trump even before he took office.

"President Trump has done more for human rights than this Soros-funded, left-wing group ever could by ending eight wars, saving countless lives, protecting religious freedom, ending Biden's weaponization of government and more," White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said.

U.S. President Donald Trump visits a Ford production center in Dearborn, Michigan on Jan. 13. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

Billionaire financier and major Democratic donor George Soros founded the Open Society Foundations, which has previously given grants to Human Rights Watch.

Bolopion also said in the report that the Trump administration had leaned on racist tropes and "embraced policies and rhetoric that align with white nationalist ideology."

He criticized what he said was the degrading treatment of immigrants and asylum-seekers, the killing of two people in Minneapolis and the deportation of hundreds of migrants to a megaprison in El Salvador known for its harsh conditions, among other elements of Trump's immigration crackdown.

Masked immigration officers, often in tactical military-style gear, have become a common sight across the United States, and protests have erupted in several cities.

Trump's hardline immigration agenda was a potent campaign issue that helped him win the 2024 election.

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the White House in Washington on Oct. 22, 2025. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

Elsewhere, the report said Chinese authorities systematically denied freedom of expression, freedom of religion and other rights, while Russia had further intensified a crackdown on dissent and civil society, and Israeli forces escalated attacks on Palestinians in Gaza.

China and Russia have previously defended their human rights records, while Israel has said that it respects international law and that operations in Gaza are necessary to destroy Hamas, the Palestinian group responsible for the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel.

Separately, Human Rights Watch said in a statement on Tuesday that two members of its team resigned after the organization paused the publication of a report on the right of return of Palestinian refugees. Omar Shakir, the organization's Israel and Palestine director and one of those who resigned, accused Bolopion of pulling the finalized report in a post on X.

Reuters