Amnesty International has raised serious concerns on the one-year mark of President Trump’s return to office, highlighting a growing wave of authoritarian practices that are severely eroding human rights in the United States. In its new report, *Ringing the Alarm Bells: Rising Authoritarian Practices and Erosion of Human Rights in the United States*, the organization details how the administration has systematically concentrated power, undermined the rule of law, and restricted civic space, putting journalists, protesters, lawyers, students, and human rights defenders at increasing risk.
The report identifies twelve interrelated areas where these authoritarian tactics are evident, including attacks on freedom of the press, freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, civil society, academic institutions, political opponents, and the judiciary. Other areas of concern include threats to refugee and migrant rights, the targeting of minority communities, domestic militarization, weakened corporate accountability, expanded surveillance without oversight, and efforts to undermine international human rights mechanisms.
Amnesty International emphasizes that these tactics reinforce one another. Students face arrest for campus protests, communities experience intimidation from immigration enforcement, and militarization of urban areas is becoming normalized. Press intimidation and retaliation against dissent discourage reporting on human rights abuses, while attacks on courts and legal oversight hinder accountability. Together, these measures erode fundamental rights, including freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, due process, asylum, academic freedom, and even the right to life.
The patterns observed in the United States, Amnesty notes, mirror those seen globally where authoritarian governments consolidate power, control information, punish dissent, restrict civic space, and weaken accountability mechanisms. By the time such practices are entrenched, institutions designed to check abuse are often already compromised.
To counter these trends, the report offers detailed recommendations for the U.S. Executive Branch, Congress, state and local authorities, law enforcement, corporate actors, international partners, and the public. Amnesty calls for urgent action to safeguard civic space, restore the rule of law, strengthen accountability, and prevent the normalization of repression and human rights violations. Paul O’Brien, Executive Director of Amnesty International USA, underscores that authoritarian practices only take root when allowed to become normalized and stresses the collective responsibility to protect human rights in the United States.
