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For Immediate Release
December, 15 2011, 12:10pm EDT
Contact:
Sharon Singh, ssingh@aiusa.org, 202-509-8194
'Appalled, but Not Surprised' by Congressional NDAA Vote and Administration's Veto Threat Withdrawal, Says Amnesty International
Following the passage in the U.S. House of Representatives, the expected passage in the U.S. Senate, and President Obama's reported decision not to veto the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), Tom Parker, policy director (counter) terrorism and human rights at Amnesty International USA, issued the following statement:
WASHINGTON
Following the passage in the U.S. House of Representatives, the expected passage in the U.S. Senate, and President Obama's reported decision not to veto the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), Tom Parker, policy director (counter) terrorism and human rights at Amnesty International USA, issued the following statement:
"The NDAA enshrines the war paradigm that has eroded the United States' human rights record and served it so poorly over the past decade as the country's primary counterterrorism tool.
In doing so, the NDAA provides a framework for 'normalizing' indefinite detention and making Guantanamo a permanent feature of American life.
"This legislation establishes a two-track system of justice by distinguishing between U.S. persons (citizens and resident aliens) and foreign nationals - a betrayal of the most fundamental principle of justice and equality before the law.
"This bill also creates a tangle of competing counterterrorism jurisdictions that no one in Washington seems to understand. Law enforcement agencies have a strong record countering terrorism since the 9/11 attacks and this new legislation will inevitably hobble their efforts.
"By withdrawing his threat to veto the NDAA, President Obama has abandoned yet another principled position with little or nothing to show for it. Amnesty International is appalled - but regrettably not surprised."
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
US Bishops Issue Rare Message Denouncing Trump's 'Indiscriminate Mass Deportation' Campaign
"Not since the civil rights era—and never with such unanimity—have American bishops so directly challenged a president’s policies," wrote one chronicler of the Catholic Church.
Nov 14, 2025
More than 200 Catholic bishops joined in condemning the Trump administration’s attacks on immigrants in an extraordinary statement on Wednesday.
The "special message" was issued at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' (USCCB) annual fall plenary, at which a majority of the nation's bishops were in attendance. They denounced the administration's "indiscriminate mass deportation" campaign, and called for an end to "dehumanizing rhetoric and violence."
Such a message is exceptionally rare. It was the first time in 12 years that the USCCB has issued such a joint statement, which it says is reserved for cases it deems "particularly urgent."
The statement was passed with 216 votes of approval, while just five bishops voted against it and three abstained. There are around 270 actively serving bishops in the US, meaning the vote represents the vast majority opinion among these high-ranking church officials. After the vote passed, the declaration was met with sustained applause.
The bishops laid out a litany of ways the Trump administration has violated the rights of immigrants over the past year and engaged in dehumanizing rhetoric directed at them.
"We are disturbed when we see among our people a climate of fear and anxiety around questions of profiling and immigration enforcement," the bishops said. "We are saddened by the state of contemporary debate and the vilification of immigrants. We are concerned about the conditions in detention centers and the lack of access to pastoral care. We lament that some immigrants in the United States have arbitrarily lost their legal status. We are troubled by threats against the sanctity of houses of worship and the special nature of hospitals and schools. We are grieved when we meet parents who fear being detained when taking their children to school, and when we try to console family members who have already been separated from their loved ones."
The White House often claims that the immigrants it targets for deportation are violent criminals and terrorists. But the latest immigration data shows that around 72% of current detainees have no criminal convictions. Previous data from the libertarian Cato Institute has shown that 93% of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) book-ins were for non-criminals and nonviolent offenders.
Members of the Trump administration often engage in openly hostile rhetoric toward immigrants, including Vice President JD Vance, whose wife's parents immigrated from India, and who is a recent Catholic convert who often speaks about the role of faith in his politics.
Vance has described immigration to the US as a “historic invasion” of the nation. He has admitted to spreading false rumors about Haitian asylum seekers, who’d fled violence and instability in their home countries to settle legally in the US; during the 2024 presidential campaign, he amplified baseless claims that the migrants were eating the pets of their American neighbors. Vance has derided the idea of people from "different cultures" moving to the US, saying it's "totally reasonable and acceptable for American citizens to look at their next-door neighbors and say, 'I want to live next to people who I have something in common with,'" including speaking the same language.
The bishops thoroughly repudiated this worldview in their statement.
"Despite obstacles and prejudices, generations of immigrants have made enormous contributions to the well-being of our nation. We, as Catholic bishops, love our country and pray for its peace and prosperity. For this very reason, we feel compelled now in this environment to raise our voices in defense of God-given human dignity," they said. "Catholic teaching exhorts nations to recognize the fundamental dignity of all persons, including immigrants."
The bishops called for “meaningful reform of our nation’s immigration laws and procedures,” adding that “human dignity and national security are not in conflict” and that “both are possible if people of goodwill work together.”
"We recognize that nations have a responsibility to regulate their borders and establish a just and orderly immigration system for the sake of the common good," they said. "Without such processes, immigrants face the risk of trafficking and other forms of exploitation. Safe and legal pathways serve as an antidote to such risks."
The bishops' statement follows a call by Pope Leo XIV last week for "deep reflection" about the way immigrants are treated in the United States. The Chicago-born Pope, the first American to ever serve as the church's patriarch, said that "many people who have lived for years and years and years, never causing problems, have been deeply affected by what is going on right now.”
According to the American Immigration Council, more than 80% of the undocumented immigrants in the US in 2022 had been living in the country for over a decade. Meanwhile, numerous studies have found that both undocumented and documented immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than native-born citizens.
The bishops’ denunciation comes at a time when Americans have turned considerably against Trump’s immigration policies: Where he had double-digit approval on the issue near the start of his presidency, at the beginning of November, net support for his immigration policy was at -7 according to polls from The Economist/YouGov.
As Christopher Hale, a writer who has chronicled Leo's papacy, wrote, the bishops' statement may be the strongest collective denunciation of a US president ever made by the Catholic hierarchy.
"Not since the civil rights era—and never with such unanimity—have American bishops so directly challenged a president’s policies," Hale said.
Also at the plenary, El Paso Bishop Mark Seitz, the chair of the USCCB's migration committee, announced the launch of the conference's "You Are Not Alone" Initiative, which aims to provide support and accompaniment to migrants at risk of deportation under the Trump administration.
"Our immigrant brothers and sisters… are living in a deep state of fear,” Seitz said. “Many are too afraid to work, send their children to school, or avail themselves to the sacraments.”
He added: "Because we’re pastors… we care about our people, and we care particularly for those who are most vulnerable and those who are most in need.”
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Fear of ‘Corporate Capture’ at COP30 as Record 1,600+ Fossil Fuel Lobbyists Swarm
"We see the very corporations driving this crisis being given a platform to foist the same false ‘solutions’ that sustain their profit motives."
Nov 14, 2025
A environmental advocacy group is warning about the potential "corporate capture" of the COP30 climate summit being held this week in Belém, Brazil.
In a report released on Friday, the Kick Big Polluters Out (KBPO) coalition said it tallied the “largest ever attendance share” for fossil fuel lobbyists, dimming hopes of reaching a breakthrough agreement to curb emissions.
In fact, KBPO found that fossil fuel lobbyists at the conference outnumber the delegations of every nation attending, with the lone exception being Brazil, which is hosting COP30.
In total, KBPO counted 1,602 fossil fuel lobbyists at the climate summit.
The number of fossil fuel lobbyists at COP30 increased by 12% from last year's COP29 held in Baku, Azerbaijan, and lobbyists represent one out every 25 participants at this year's conference.
The KBPO report puts this into perspective by contrasting the number of lobbyists in attendance with the number of delegates from nations that have suffered the most from extreme weather brought about by human-induced climate change.
"Fossil fuel lobbyists outnumber official delegates from the Philippines by nearly 50 to 1—even while the country is being hit by devastating typhoons as the UN climate talks are underway," the report notes. "Fossil fuel lobbyists sent more than 40 times the number of people than Jamaica, which is still reeling from Hurricane Melissa."
Jax Bongon, climate justice policy officer at the sustainable development advocacy organization International IBON and a member of the KBPO coalition, said the heavy presence of lobbyists is "making a mockery of the process" of trying to negotiate a deal to reduce global carbon emissions.
"Just days after devastating floods and supertyphoons in the Philippines, and amid worsening droughts, heatwaves, and displacement across the Global South," Bongon said, "we see the very corporations driving this crisis being given a platform to foist the same false ‘solutions’ that sustain their profit motives and undermine any hope of truly addressing the climate emergency."
The report also called out several wealthy nations for including fossil fuel lobbyists in their delegations.
" France brought 22 fossil fuel delegates, with five from TotalEnergies, including CEO Patrick Pouyanné," KBPO noted. "Japan’s delegation contained 33 fossil fuel lobbyists, among them Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Osaka Gas; and Norway snuck 17 into the talks, including six senior executives from its national oil and gas giant Equinor."
Although the US under President Donald Trump is not taking part in this year's negotiations, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) is attending COP30 as the lone federal representative of the US government.
According to Politico, Whitehouse intends to hammer the Trump administration for continuing to focus exclusively on fossil fuel production at a time when the rest of the world is moving on to producing renewable energy sources.
"Amidst sinking approvals and a shellacking in the most recent elections, it’s no surprise the Trump administration is unwilling to defend the fossil fuel industry’s unpopular and corrupt climate denial lies on the global stage," Whitehouse told Politico.
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'Reckless and Irresponsible': Trump Plans Deep Housing Cuts That Could Leave 200,000 Homeless
"HUD's current path risks causing a dangerous spike in street homelessness," warned a group of Senate Democrats.
Nov 14, 2025
Democratic lawmakers and advocates are voicing grave warnings after the Trump administration on Thursday unveiled its plan to slash funding for long-term housing programs, cuts that could leave nearly 200,000 people at risk of becoming homeless.
The New York Times reported that the administration's new proposal for Continuum of Care (CoC) funding "shifts billions to short-term programs that impose work rules, help the police dismantle encampments, and require the homeless to accept treatment for mental illness or addiction."
"By cutting aid for permanent housing by two-thirds next year, the plan risks a sudden end of support for most of the people the Continuum places in such housing nationwide, beginning as soon as January," the Times added. "All are disabled—a condition of the aid—and many are 50 or older. The document does not explain how they would find housing."
Shortly before the administration released its plan, which was first detailed by Politico in late September, a group of more than 40 Senate Democrats wrote in a letter to Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Scott Turner that the administration "must immediately reconsider these harmful and potentially illegal changes that could result in nearly 200,000 older adults, chronically homeless Americans with disabilities, veterans, and families being forced back onto the streets."
"HUD's current path risks causing a dangerous spike in street homelessness," the lawmakers wrote. "We implore you to make the better choice and expeditiously renew current CoC grants for fiscal year 2025 as authorized by Congress to protect communities and avoid displacing thousands of our nation’s most vulnerable individuals."
A HUD spokesperson responded dismissively to the letter, telling Politico in a statement that "Senate Democrats are doing the bidding of the homeless industrial complex."
The Trump administration's cuts come after more than 771,000 people across the US experienced homelessness on a given night in 2024, an 18% increase compared to 2023 and the highest level ever recorded.
Ann Oliva, CEO of the National Alliance to End Homelessness, said in response to the Trump administration's plan that "people all over this nation have overcome homelessness and stabilized in HUD’s permanent housing programs."
"Many are just beginning that process and getting a shot at a new life,” said Oliva. "HUD's new funding priorities slam the door on them, their providers, and their communities. Make no mistake: Homelessness will only increase because of this reckless and irresponsible decision."
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