Via Daily Caller:
Amnesty International is alleging that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Justice Department are using the justice system to target illegal immigrant activists.
“Amnesty International has found since 2018 that the United States (US) government has executed an unlawful and politically motivated campaign of intimidation, threats, harassment, and criminal investigations against people who defend the human rights of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers (‘migrant human rights defenders’) on the US–Mexico border,” reads a portion of the report, which was obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
The London-based human rights organization interviewed 23 “human rights defenders” who claim they have being targeted by the U.S. government because of their work on behalf of immigrants. Of the 23 who were interviewed, 10 were put under a DHS watch list for their alleged involvement in human smuggling — criminal investigations that Amnesty International referred to as “dubious.” Others alleged instances of targeted harassment and intimidation at the hands of U.S. authorities.
The people interviewed by human rights group included activists, lawyers and others who work to promote the interests of illegal aliens.
“The Trump administration’s targeting of human rights defenders through discriminatory misuse of the criminal justice system sets it on a slippery slope toward authoritarianism,” Erika Guevara-Rosasa, Americas director for Amnesty International, said in a prepared statement included in the report. “The US government is disgracing itself by threatening and even prosecuting its own citizens for their vital work to save the lives of people in a desperate situation at the border.”
Despite the seriousness of the allegations, Amnesty International’s report does not have any documented evidence that proves a U.S. government official, or any U.S. agency as a whole, targeted an individual specifically because of their immigration rights activism or work. Instead, the report significantly relies on drawing a connection between activists and their subsequent run-ins with the law.