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ACLU Calls On UN to Investigate Trump Administration's Gross Violations of Human Rights in Minnesota
The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Minnesota sent an urgent submission late last night to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), requesting the committee to use its early warning and urgent action procedure in response to the human rights crisis following the Trump administration's deployment of federal forces in Minneapolis and the St. Paul metropolitan area. The submission details how federal agents have ignored basic human rights in their enforcement activity against Minnesotans, especially targeting Somali and Latino communities.
The ACLU and ACLU of Minnesota call on CERD to issue a decision under its early warning and urgent actions procedures to intervene and investigate the U.S.’s grave violations of its human rights obligations.
“The Trump administration’s egregious crackdown in Minnesota is not only flouting the Constitution but also United States international human rights obligations that prohibit the use of racial and ethnic profiling, extra-judicial killings and unlawful use of force against protesters and observers,” said Jamil Dakwar, director the Human Rights Program at the American Civil Liberties Union. “We are calling on the United Nations to hold the U.S. government accountable for its blatant violations of international law and to officially report on its disregard for their human rights treaty obligations.”
The submission underscores how ICE’s unlawful and unconstitutional stops and arrests of Minnesotans on the basis of race, ethnicity, and national origin represent flagrant violations of the freedoms and rights enshrined in the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) — guarantees that the United States is legally bound to uphold and protect at federal, state and local levels as a state party to the treaty since 1994.
“The Trump administration’s ongoing immigration enforcement operations in Minnesota are being carried out by thousands of masked federal agents in military gear who are ignoring basic constitutional and human rights of Minnesotans,” said Teresa Nelson, legal director of the ACLU of Minnesota. “Their targeting of our Somali and Latino communities threatens Minnesotans’ most fundamental rights, and it has spread fear among immigrant communities and neighborhoods.”
For more information about ICERD and the Committee’s Early Warning and Urgent Action procedures here.
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The American Civil Liberties Union was founded in 1920 and is our nation's guardian of liberty. The ACLU works in the courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to all people in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States.
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Asked If He'll Apologize to Alex Pretti's Family, JD Vance Scoffs 'For What?'
Others in the Trump administration have walked back the lie that Pretti was a "would-be-assassin." Vance isn't sorry.
Feb 04, 2026
Vice President JD Vance is refusing to apologize to the family of Alex Pretti after defaming the Minnesotan in order to justify his killing by Customs and Border Protection agents late last month on the streets of Minneapolis.
Video shows Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care unit nurse, was shot at least ten times by a pair of agents after being disarmed of a handgun, which he was carrying legally according to local police.
Within hours of the incident, the Trump administration had already begun to run with false claims that Pretti had "brandished" his weapon at agents, which were immediately disproven by video. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who first made the claim, has since backed off that characterization following criticism.
On social media, Vance shared a post in which senior White House adviser Stephen Miller described Pretti as a "would-be-assassin" who sought to "murder federal agents," a claim for which they have still not provided any evidence weeks later.
President Donald Trump himself told reporters last week that he did not believe Pretti was an assassin, even acknowledging that the shooting was a "mistake."
Even Miller, who rarely backs down from even the most extreme and outrageous statements, has since acknowledged that agents may not have been following protocol when they shot Pretti.
But Vance is not sorry. During an interview with the Daily Mail on Tuesday, when interviewer Philip Nieto asked if the vice president would apologize to Pretti's family, he retorted, "For what?" with a smirk.
"For, you know, labeling him an assassin with ill intent," Nieto answered.
“I just described to you what I said about Alex Pretti, which is that he’s a guy who showed up with ill intent to an ICE protest,” Vance responded, referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Nieto then asked if Vance would apologize if an FBI probe opened last week found that the officers involved in the shooting had violated Pretti's civil rights.
Vance, appearing exasperated, sighed, “So if this hypothetical leads to that hypothetical leads to another hypothetical—”
Nieto then interjected, "It's a real case that's open."
"Like I said, we're gonna let the investigation determine," Vance said.
Then, in the ultimate dose of irony, he continued: "I don’t think it’s smart to prejudge the investigation, I don’t think it’s fair to those ICE officers,” he said, misidentifying the agency responsible for the shooting as ICE rather than CBP.
He notably did not give his thoughts on whether it was similarly unfair to "prejudge" Pretti as an attempted murderer within hours of his killing.
A clip of the interaction garnered immediate disgust online.
Ken Martin, the chair of the Democratic National Committee, said that "JD Vance had the opportunity to be a normal human being and show some empathy for the family of a man who was murdered. To nobody's surprise, he’s doubling down on being an asshole."
Pedro Gonzalez, a right-wing activist who has since become fiercely critical of the Trump administration, said that with his "little smile after 'for what,'" Vance appeared to be "relishing the opportunity to seem cold-blooded."
He added, "What Vance really is at heart is a hollow shell of a man who defends the murderers of American citizens more vigorously than he has ever defended his own family from the bigots he's trying to court for 2028."
John Ganz, the author of the newsletter Unpopular Front, simply said Vance is the "most repulsive person in politics, and there is stiff competition."
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In Blow to Trump Gerrymandering Scheme, US Supreme Court Lets California Adopt New Map
"Trump said he was 'entitled' to five more congressional seats in Texas," said California Gov. Gavin Newsom. "He started this redistricting war. He lost, and he’ll lose again in November."
Feb 04, 2026
The US Supreme Court on Wednesday dealt a major blow to President Donald Trump's mid-decade redistricting scheme when it refused to take up an emergency request by the California Republican Party to override an appeals court ruling that greenlit a newly redrawn congressional map in their state.
The court's decision came two months after it cleared the way for Texas to adopt a new map drawn up by state Republicans, which analysts have projected could net the GOP as many as five additional seats in the US House of Representatives.
California's initiative to redraw its map came as a direct rebuke to the Texas GOP, which pushed through its mid-decade partisan gerrymander at Trump's insistence. As drawn, the new California map is expected to balance out the redrawn Texas map by netting Democrats in the House five additional seats of their own.
California's Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, who led the charge to redraw his state's map, took a victory lap after the Supreme Court decision.
"Donald Trump said he was 'entitled' to five more congressional seats in Texas," Newsom wrote in a social media post. "He started this redistricting war. He lost, and he’ll lose again in November."
Attorney Norm Eisen, executive chairman of Democracy Defenders Fund, hailed the court's decision as a "huge, gigantic, enormous win" that will counter "Trump's attempt to steal congressional seats."
Trump’s unprecedented mid-decade redistricting crusade, which began in Texas and subsequently spread to Missouri and North Carolina, has been hit with major pushback from Democrat-controlled states.
In addition to California, Democrats in Virginia and Maryland are also working on redrawing their congressional maps to counter Trump's efforts ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
However, Trump and his allies have signaled that aggressive gerrymandering won't be the only trick they'll play to hold onto power in the 2026 midterms.
Right-wing podcaster and political strategist Steve Bannon claimed on Tuesday that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers will "surround" polling places in November, and Trump on Monday called on Republicans to "nationalize the voting" and take away states' power to conduct their own elections.
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'Vindication': UK Jury Clears Palestine Action Protesters Who Admitted to Elbit Break-In
“These verdicts are a huge blow to government ministers who have tried to portray Palestine Action as a violent group to justify banning it under badly drafted terrorism legislation," said one campaigner.
Feb 04, 2026
In what one campaigner called a "huge blow" to the UK government's efforts to crush Palestine Action, a London jury on Wednesday cleared six members of the direct action group of aggravated burglary—even after they admitted to breaking into and vandalizing an Israel-linked weapons facility.
Zoe Rogers, Fatema Zainab Rajwani, Charlotte Head, Samuel Corner, Leona Kamio, and Jordan Devlin—six of the so-called "Filton 24"—were found not guilty of aggravated burglary and criminal damage by a jury at Woolwich Crown Court after eight days of deliberation. Devlin, Rajwani, and Rogers were found not guilty of violent disorder, although verdicts were not reached for the three others on the charge.
Prosecutors alleged that the six activists drove a van like a "battering ram" to smash their way into the Elbit Systems UK research, development, and manufacturing facility in Bristol early on August 6, 2024 in a "meticulously organized" attack targeting the subsidiary of the Israeli arms firm Elbit Systems.
❗️BREAKING -- Palestine Action protesters found not guilty of burglary at Elbit weapons factory in Bristol.The six activists were also not convicted of other charges, having spent 18 months in jail awaiting trial.realmedia.press/filton-verdi...
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— Declassified UK (@declassifieduk.org) February 4, 2026 at 5:02 AM
The defendants—who had been imprisoned on remand for 17 months—were also accused of using fire extinguishers to spray red paint throughout the facility and of using crowbars and hammers to break computers and other equipment.
The activists admitted to breaking into the facility, only disputing that the sledgehammers were offensive weapons and arguing that they were only meant to damage property.
After the verdicts were announced, the courtroom erupted in cheers and the six cleared activists hugged in the dock.
“These verdicts are a huge blow to government ministers who have tried to portray Palestine Action as a violent group to justify banning it under badly drafted terrorism legislation," said a spokesperson for the group Defend Our Juries, which has organized numerous protests in support of Palestine Action.
“Despite government efforts to prejudice this trial, citing the allegations of violence to justify treating Palestine Action as ‘terrorists’, as if they were already proved, the jury which heard the evidence has refused to find the defendants guilty of anything, not even criminal damage," the spokesperson added. "It shows how out of step this government is with public opinion, which is revulsed by the government and Elbit’s complicity in genocide.”
The jury failed to reach a verdict on an additional charge against Corner, who allegedly caused grievous bodily harm by hitting Police Sgt. Kate Evans in the back with a sledgehammer as she laid on the floor, fracturing her spine.
Journalist Adam Ramsay pointed out that Corner's altercation with Evans "was widely used to justify the proscription of Palestine Action."
"The fact that the jury, who heard the full story, didn’t convict him of a crime leaves the case for proscription in tatters," Ramsay added.
Corner—and possibly other defendants—could face new trials on certain charges if the Crown Prosecution Service determines that there is a realistic chance of conviction and if further action serves the public interest.
Eighteen other alleged Palestine Action members are currently awaiting trials scheduled for later this year.
Numerous observers said the verdicts obliterate the government's rationale for banning Palestine Action under the highly contentious Terrorism Act of 2000.
"I'm not sure people appreciate quite what a blow to [UK Prime Minister Keir] Starmer's government the acquittal of the Palestine Action protestors is," East Anglia Law School professor Paul Bernal said on Bluesky. "It both blows apart the whole proscription idea and demonstrates how out of touch they are."
"This was a jury," Bernal added. "Juries represent the public."
Journalist Jonathan Cook noted that "the UK government pinned its case for declaring Palestine Action a terrorist organization largely on the trial of the so-called Filton Six, claiming they had proved the group to be violent. A jury today found none of them guilty of any of the charges."
A declassified UK intelligence report published last September by the New York Times acknowledged that “the majority” of Palestine Action’s activities “would not be classified as terrorism” under the country's highly contentious Terrorism Act of 2000.
In addition to the Filton break-in, Palestine Action's direct action protests have also including spray-painting warplanes at a British military base and defacing US President Donald Trump’s Turnberry golf resort in Scotland—acts experts say do not constitute terrorism.
Britain's Terrorism Act has long been condemned by civil liberties defenders, who decry the law’s “vague and overbroad” definition of terrorism, chilling effect on free speech and expression, invasive stop-and-search powers, pre-charge detention and control orders, sweeping surveillance and data collection, and other provisions.
According to rights groups, more than 2,700 people have been arrested during demonstrations of support for Palestine Action since the group’s proscription. Many of those arrested did nothing more than hold up signs reading: “I Oppose Genocide. I Support Palestine Action.”
Arrestees include many elders, including 83-year-old Rev. Sue Parfitt, who argued that “we cannot be bystanders” in the face of Israel’s US and UK-backed genocide in Gaza, which has left more than 250,000 Palestinians dead, maimed, or missing; nearly 2 million people forcibly displaced; and hundreds of thousands starved by design.
The Filton trial tells us two things: 1. The justice system cannot defeat us. If we trust in the inherent goodness of people, of empathy, of those of us willing to fight against oppression and genocide, we can and will be free.2. Direct action gets the fucking goods.
— BASH BACK (@bashback.bsky.social) February 4, 2026 at 8:28 AM
Last September, a panel of United Nations experts concluded that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague is currently reviewing a genocide case filed against Israel by South Africa.
The International Criminal Court (ICC), also located in the Dutch city, issued warrants in November 2024 for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes committed during the 27-month assault and siege on Gaza.
Numerous Palestine Action members and supporters have gone on a monthslong life-threatening hunger strike to protest the defendants' imprisonment on remand and to demand a fair trial, lifting of the ban on Palestine Action, and closure of Elbit Systems’ UK facilities.
Late last month, Muhammad Umer Khalid, the last of the Palestine Action hunger strikers, began eating again after he was hospitalized with multiple organ failure.
Naila Ahmed, head of campaigns at CAGE International, said in a statement Wednesday that the Filton verdicts are "a powerful affirmation of jury independence and moral courage in the face of extraordinary political pressure."
"Though they cannot get back the 17 months of their life taken from them unlawfully, they should all be compensated and the remaining 18 defendants of the Filton 24 should also be released on bail," she added. "This case was used to justify the ban against Palestine Action, a decision that should now be overturned."
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