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For Immediate Release
April, 03 2009, 11:16am EDT
Contact:
AIUSA media office, 202-544-0200
x302, lspann@aiusa.org
Amnesty Int'l Activists to Urge Their US Representatives and Senators to Fully Investigate Past Abuses in War on Terror
Human Rights Activists Organizing In-district Meetings from April 6-17 Across the United States
WASHINGTON
Amnesty International members and other activists will be meeting with their U.S. representatives and senators from April 6-17 to urge Congress to fully investigate the U.S. government's abuses in the war on terror and hold accountable those responsible. The human rights organization is calling on President Barack Obama and the U.S. Congress to create an independent and impartial commission to examine the use of torture, indefinite detention, secret renditions and other illegal U.S. counterterrorism policies.
Approximately 133 delegations will have more than 200 meetings across the nation. Participants will connect with their respective members and senators including those from San Diego, CA, Tallahassee, FL, Danielsville, GA, Kaneohe, HI, West Lafayette, IA, Salem, MA, Ann Arbor, MI and Henderson, NV.
The in-district lobby week is part of Amnesty International's 100 Days Action, a project to ensure that President Obama takes concrete steps in the first 100 days of his administration to demonstrate a commitment to human rights and the rule of law.
Amnesty International is a global movement of millions of people demanding human rights for all people - no matter who they are or where they are. We are the world's largest grassroots human rights organization.
(212) 807-8400LATEST NEWS
Trump Deploying National Guard to Memphis Called 'Cruel Intimidation Tactic'
“When military troops police civilians, we have an intolerable threat to individual liberty and the foundational values of this country,” said the head of the ACLU's National Security Project.
Sep 16, 2025
Leaders at the ACLU on Tuesday joined other rights advocates and elected Democrats in condemning US President Donald Trump's decision to deploy the National Guard to Memphis with a Monday order he signed beside Republican Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee.
“When military troops police civilians, we have an intolerable threat to individual liberty and the foundational values of this country,” said Hina Shamsi, director of the ACLU's National Security Project, in a statement.
“President Trump may want to normalize armed forces in our cities, but no matter what uniform they wear, federal agents and military troops are bound by the Constitution and have to respect our rights to peaceful assembly, freedom of speech, and due process," Shamsi continued. "State and local leaders must stay strong and take all lawful measures to protect residents against this cruel intimidation tactic.”
While Lee expressed his gratitude to Trump for the order, some other elected officials in Tennessee have spoken out since Trump previewed his plans for Memphis on "Fox & Friends" last Friday.
The Associated Press reported on local opposition Monday:
“I did not ask for the National Guard, and I don’t think it’s the way to drive down crime,” Memphis Mayor Paul Young told a news conference Friday while acknowledging the city remained high on too many “bad lists.”
Young has also said that now the decision is made, he wants to ensure he can help influence the Guard’s role. He mentioned possibilities such as traffic control for big events, monitoring cameras for police and undertaking beautification projects.
At a news conference Monday, some local Democrats urged officials to consider options to oppose the deployment. Tami Sawyer, Shelby County General Sessions Court Clerk, said the city or county could sue.
State Rep. Justin Pearson (D-86), whose district includes parts of the city, declared, “We need poverty eradication, not military occupation!”
Denouncing Trump's targeting of Memphis on MSNBC, Congressman Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) said that "having the National Guard here is unnecessary and it is a stunt. It's just a Trump show, to show his power and his force."
"I think this may be the first representation of his changing the Department of Defense to the Department of War, because he likes to put the National Guard at his direction, as his being the great warrior, into cities and going to war," he added.
According to a White House fact sheet, Trump's memorandum tasks Secretary of War Pete Hegseth with requesting Lee "make Tennessee National Guard units available to support public safety and law enforcement operations in Memphis," and further directs Hegseth to "coordinate with state governors to mobilize National Guard personnel from those states to support this effort."
The order also "establishes a Memphis Safe Task Force tasked with ending street and violent crime in Memphis to the greatest possible extent, including by coordinating closely with state and local officials in Tennessee, Memphis, and neighboring jurisdictions to share information, develop joint priorities, and maximize resources to make Memphis safe and restore public order."
🪡Governor Bill Lee, Senator Marsha Blackburn, Rep. David Kustoff, and Sen. Brent Taylor have chosen fear-mongering and authoritarianism over real solutions. They voted to gut healthcare and food security from Memphians. Sending troops will not fix the failures they created.
— Indivisible Memphis (@indivisiblememphis.bsky.social) September 14, 2025 at 10:19 PM
Trump has already deployed the National Guard to Washington, DC, and Los Angeles, California, and threatened to do so in Chicago, Illinois, where his deadly "Operation Midway Blitz" targeting immigrants is already underway.
"Expanding military involvement into US civilian law enforcement is dangerous and unwarranted," Tanya Greene, US program director at Human Rights Watch, said Tuesday. "The Trump administration's continued deployment of military forces in cities with populations primarily comprised of people of color, like Memphis, risks exacerbating violence against immigrants, unhoused people, and poor people in general."
"While communities desperately need food, affordable housing, and healthcare," she added, "hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars are being squandered on these deployments."
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Human Rights Watch Demands Probe of Fatal ICE Shooting Near Chicago as Video Undermines DHS Claims
"As ICE ramps up its violent and discriminatory campaign of raids and detention against migrants and their communities, injuries and deaths will likely continue to rise," said a spokesperson for Human Rights Watch.
Sep 16, 2025
Human Rights Watch on Tuesday called for an independent probe into US Immigration and Customs Enforcement's fatal shooting of a Mexican immigrant outside Chicago on Friday, as new video evidence seems to undermine the government's claims about what led to the shooting.
On Friday, as part of President Donald Trump's "Operation Midway Blitz," an ICE agent shot and killed Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez, a 38-year-old Mexican immigrant, during what the agency called "targeted law enforcement activity."
Villegas-Gonzalez was pronounced dead at the hospital, where the agent who shot him was also taken to be treated for severe injuries. On a GoFundMe page set up after his shooting, Villegas-Gonzalez's family revealed that he was killed "shortly after he dropped off his sons at school."
In a statement released after the shooting, the Department of Homeland Security said that Villegas-Gonzalez "refused to follow law enforcement's commands and drove his car at law enforcement officers. One of the ICE officers was hit by the car and dragged a significant distance. Fearing for his own life, the officer fired his weapon." They described Villegas-Gonzalez as "a criminal illegal alien with a history of reckless driving."
According to a report on Tuesday from the Chicago Sun-Times, the ICE agents at the scene were not wearing body cameras after Trump scrapped a policy requiring them. CCTV footage from local businesses has captured some of the events leading up to the shooting.
Human Rights Watch said that the publicly available footage contradicts DHS's version of events.
(Video: CBS News)
Belkis Wille, the associate director of the Human Rights Watch's crisis, conflict, and arms division, described the discrepancy:
The CCTV footage that has emerged does not show Villegas-Gonzalez’s car driving at or hitting law enforcement officers. In the footage, two officers stand on either side of Villegas-Gonzalez’ vehicle as he reverses away from the officers. One of the officers appears to hold onto the window frame on the driver's side, moving backward with the vehicle, and then forward as the vehicle drives out of frame of the CCTV camera. It is unclear why the ICE officer moves with the vehicle or whether he is being dragged.
"Law enforcement officers," Wille noted, "can only use lethal force when an individual poses an imminent danger of death or serious physical injury to the officer or another person."
As protests erupted around the Chicagoland area, numerous public officials called for ICE to release more information about the shooting of Villegas-Gonzalez. According to Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D), ICE, the Department of Homeland Security, and the FBI have all refused to clarify who is investigating the incident.
"We’ve asked ICE for all of the information around it," Pritzker said Monday. "They have given very little."
He added that "if this were the Chicago Police Department, if this were the sheriff’s office in Cook County, if this were Illinois State Police, you would have had a lot more information already released."
Human Rights Watch said that instead of an internal investigation, there must be an independent probe that is not controlled by the Trump administration.
"As ICE ramps up its violent and discriminatory campaign of raids and detention against migrants and their communities, injuries and deaths will likely continue to rise," Wille said.
As of late August, ICE had deported more than 200,000 people since Trump returned to office. But while the Trump administration says they are going after "the worst of the worst," ICE data from early September shows that 71% held in ICE detention have no criminal convictions, while most of those who do have only minor offenses.
Only about 12% of those deported have been convicted of a crime that was violent or potentially violent. The Marshall Project reports that as of August, over 1,800 people with traffic violations, like Villegas-Gonzalez, had been deported.
At least 14 people, not including Villegas-Gonzalez, have died while in ICE custody since Trump retook office, a significant uptick from recent years.
"In the face of these developments and this fatal incident, transparent investigations into the causes of deaths and injuries during ICE actions are more critical than ever. Those responsible for violations of US law, as well as international human rights standards, should be held to account."
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16 Nations Warn Israel Against Attacking Gaza-Bound Global Sumud Flotilla
The countries' foreign ministers urged Israel to "refrain from any unlawful or violent act against the flotilla" and "to respect international law."
Sep 16, 2025
The foreign ministers of 16 nations on Tuesday implored Israel to not attack the Global Sumud Flotilla, a fleet of around 40 boats attempting to deliver desperately needed humanitarian aid to the embattled Gaza Strip, where Palestinians are suffering 22 months of US-backed genocidal war and forced famine.
"The Global Sumud Flotilla has informed about its objective of delivering humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip and raising awareness about the urgent humanitarian needs of the Palestinian people and the need to stop the war in Gaza," the foreign ministers of Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, Ireland, Libya, Malaysia, Maldives, Mexico, Pakistan, Qatar, Oman, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, and Türkiye said in a joint statement.
Many of those nations are supporting South Africa's genocide case against Israel currently before the International Court of Justice.
"We therefore call on everyone to refrain from any unlawful or violent act against the flotilla" and "to respect international law and international humanitarian law," the ministers continued. "We recall that any violation of international law and human rights of the participants in the flotilla, including attacks against the vessels in international waters or illegal detention, will lead to accountability."
Hundreds of activists from dozens of nations participating in the Global Sumud Flotilla—"sumud" means perseverance in Arabic—have set sail toward Gaza from ports around the world since August. More than two dozen vessels arrived in Sicily on Tuesday after departing the Tunisian port of Bizerte following an 11-day delay caused in part by multiple drone attacks on flotilla boats.
Israel—which has attacked past flotillas, including in a 2010 raid that killed nine volunteers aboard the MV Mavi Marmara, among them Turkish-American teenager Furkan Doğan—has not claimed responsibility for the drone attacks.
“Pulling off the largest grassroots maritime mission to break Israel’s siege has posed many challenges, but through it all we remained determined, steadfast, and united,” Global Sumud Flotilla said Tuesday on Instagram.
Prominent flotilla participants include Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, American actress Susan Sarandon, Irish actor Liam Cunningham, leftist Portuguese parliamentarian Mariana Mortágua, former Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau, and Mandla Mandela, the grandson of former South African President Nelson Mandela.
“We’re carrying a lot of humanitarian aid, but we’re also carrying a message of support from the peoples of the world that we are with the Palestinian people,” flotilla spokesperson Bruno Gilga told Middle East Eye.
Earlier this year, Freedom Flotilla Coalition vessels Conscience, Madleen, and Handala each separately tried to break Israel's blockade of Gaza but were thwarted by Israeli forces in international waters, an apparent violation of maritime law. Flotilla activists were beaten, kidnapped, jailed, interrogated, and deported by Israel.
Global Sumud Flotilla's attempt to break Israel's siege comes as Israeli forces push deeper into Gaza City as they execute Operation Gideon's Chariots 2, a campaign to conquer, occupy, and ethnically cleanse the strip. At least 64,964 Palestinians—mostly civilian men, women, and children—have been killed by Israeli forces over the past 711 days, although experts say the actual toll is likely far higher.
On Tuesday, a commission of independent United Nations experts became the latest in a growing number of individuals and groups to accuse Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.
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