\n
In a news release on Friday, High Commissioner Volker T\u00fcrk said individuals suspected of being undocumented migrants are being surveilled, arrested and detained \u2013 sometimes violently \u2013 in locations ranging from hospitals and places of worship to courthouses, schools, markets and private homes.<\/p>\n
The UN rights chief said he was \u201castounded by the now-routine abuse and denigration of migrants and refugees.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\nHe warned that fear generated by such federal operations is rippling through communities, with children missing school and medical appointments, out of concern that their parents may not return.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose who dare to speak up or protest peacefully against heavy-handed immigration raids are vilified and threatened by officials, and on occasion subjected to arbitrary violence themselves,<\/strong>\u201d Mr. T\u00fcrk said.<\/p>\nHe said numerous migration policies now being implemented by US authorities are resulting in arbitrary and unlawful arrests and detentions<\/strong>, as well as flawed removal decisions. He expressed concern that enforcement actions often lacked sufficient individualised assessments.<\/p>\nDue process<\/h2>\n
US immigration enforcement is primarily carried out by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a federal agency responsible for identifying, arresting, detaining and removing non-citizens deemed to be in violation of immigration law.<\/p>\n
Mr. T\u00fcrk stressed that while national governments have the authority to establish and enforce migration policies, those powers must be exercised in full accordance with the law. Failure to respect due process, he said, risks eroding public trust, weakening institutional legitimacy and violating individuals\u2019 rights.<\/p>\n
He also deplored Washington\u2019s use of large-scale enforcement operations, raising concerns that force has at times appeared unnecessary or disproportionate.<\/p>\n
On 7 January 2026, a woman was fatally shot in Minnesota\u2019s largest city, Minneapolis, during an operation involving federal officers.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnder international law, the intentional use of lethal force is only permissible as a measure of last resort against an individual representing an imminent threat to life,<\/strong>\u201d Mr. T\u00fcrk said.<\/p>\nFamilies torn apart<\/h2>\n
The UN rights chief highlighted the human cost of these practices, particularly for families.<\/p>\n
Mr. T\u00fcrk cited cases in which parents were detained or transferred between facilities without adequate information being provided about their whereabouts or access to legal counsel, making it difficult to maintain family contact or pursue legal remedies.<\/p>\n
\u201cI call on the administration to end practices that are tearing apart families,\u201d said the High Commissioner. He also called for independent and transparent investigations into a reported rise in the number of deaths in ICE custody.<\/p>\n
At least 30 deaths were reported last year, with six more so far this year.<\/p>\n
\u2018Xenophobic hostility\u2019<\/h2>\n
Mr. T\u00fcrk also expressed deep concern over what he described as \u201cdehumanising narratives\u201d used by some Government officials to portray migrants and refugees.<\/p>\n
\u201cI call on leaders at all levels in the US to halt the use of scapegoating tactics that seek to distract and divide<\/strong>, and which increase the exposure of migrants and refugees to xenophobic hostility and abuse,\u201d he said.<\/p>\nHe also recognised the efforts of a wide range of public officials, community groups and civil society representatives across the US, who are working to uphold dignity, fairness and accountability in the treatment of migrants and their communities.<\/p>\n
Net benefits of migration<\/h2>\n
He highlighted that the US\u2019 history has been \u201cshaped profoundly\u201d by the contributions that migrants, from all parts of the world, have made and continue to make.<\/p>\n
\u201cDemonising migrants and refugees collectively as criminals, threats, or burdens on society \u2013 based on their origin, nationality or migration status \u2013 is inhuman, wrong, and it goes against the very fabric and foundations of the nation,<\/strong>\u201d he warned.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a news release on Friday, High Commissioner Volker T\u00fcrk said individuals suspected of being undocumented…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":81818,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[367,8209,643,3600,8777,1725,187,704,1145],"class_list":["post-81817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-america","tag-chief","tag-custody","tag-deaths","tag-decries","tag-ice","tag-migrants","tag-rights","tag-rise","tag-treatment"],"yoast_head":"\n
UN rights chief decries US treatment of migrants, as deaths in ICE custody rise - Gulf Times | News by the minute<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Gulf Times: Latest news across the GCC from UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2026\/01\/1166816\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UN rights chief decries US treatment of migrants, as deaths in ICE custody rise\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Gulf News| UAE's Largest News aggregator site\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2026\/01\/1166816\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gulf Times | News by the minute\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/100084981843786\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-23T12:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1769197617_image560x340cropped.avif\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"340\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"gulftimes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Gulftimesuae\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Gulftimesuae\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"gulftimes\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"UN rights chief decries US treatment of migrants, as deaths in ICE custody rise - Gulf Times | News by the minute","description":"Gulf Times: Latest news across the GCC from UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2026\/01\/1166816","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"UN rights chief decries US treatment of migrants, as deaths in ICE custody rise","og_description":"Gulf News| UAE's Largest News aggregator site","og_url":"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2026\/01\/1166816","og_site_name":"Gulf Times | News by the minute","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/100084981843786","article_published_time":"2026-01-23T12:00:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":560,"height":340,"url":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1769197617_image560x340cropped.avif","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"gulftimes","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Gulftimesuae","twitter_site":"@Gulftimesuae","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"gulftimes","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2026\/01\/1166816#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?p=81817"},"author":{"name":"gulftimes","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#\/schema\/person\/4c5b0f90aae48bb43165ee6e39ddc977"},"headline":"UN rights chief decries US treatment of migrants, as deaths in ICE custody rise","datePublished":"2026-01-23T12:00:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?p=81817"},"wordCount":604,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2026\/01\/1166816#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1769197617_image560x340cropped.avif","keywords":["chief","custody","deaths","decries","ICE","migrants","rights","rise","treatment"],"articleSection":["America"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2026\/01\/1166816#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?p=81817","url":"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2026\/01\/1166816","name":"UN rights chief decries US treatment of migrants, as deaths in ICE custody rise - Gulf Times | News by the minute","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2026\/01\/1166816#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2026\/01\/1166816#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1769197617_image560x340cropped.avif","datePublished":"2026-01-23T12:00:00+00:00","description":"Gulf Times: Latest news across the GCC from UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2026\/01\/1166816#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2026\/01\/1166816"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2026\/01\/1166816#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1769197617_image560x340cropped.avif","contentUrl":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1769197617_image560x340cropped.avif","width":560,"height":340},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2026\/01\/1166816#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"UN rights chief decries US treatment of migrants, as deaths in ICE custody rise"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#website","url":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/","name":"Gulf Times | News by the minute","description":"Largest News Aggregator in the Gulf","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#organization"},"alternateName":"Gulf News Aggregator","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#organization","name":"Gulf Times","url":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"","contentUrl":"","caption":"Gulf Times"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/100084981843786","https:\/\/x.com\/Gulftimesuae"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#\/schema\/person\/4c5b0f90aae48bb43165ee6e39ddc977","name":"gulftimes","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a8f9c2e07a9cd7e7e7c302c8c7ce8d5e0865a0bbcc732793d6e761588fd10b03?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a8f9c2e07a9cd7e7e7c302c8c7ce8d5e0865a0bbcc732793d6e761588fd10b03?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a8f9c2e07a9cd7e7e7c302c8c7ce8d5e0865a0bbcc732793d6e761588fd10b03?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"gulftimes"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/gulftimes.ae"],"url":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=81817"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81817\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/81818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=81817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=81817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=81817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}