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What We're Doing

Human Rights First Denounces Troop Deployments to Southern Border

WASHINGTON, DC – Yesterday, the governors of Virginia, South Carolina, and West Virginia announced deployments of National Guard personnel to the U.S.-Mexico border, following announcements from Florida, Mississippi, Idaho, Tennessee,…

Press

Access to U.S. Asylum

ASYLUM PROCESSING RULE AT ONE YEAR

One year ago, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) began implementing an Interim Final Rule (referred to as the “Asylum Processing Rule,” or “APR”) that created a new process for…

Reports

Trapped in a Forest, About 30 People Try To Apply For Asylum in Poland

By Brian Dooley For three days now, deep in the dense Białowieża forest that straddles the border between Belarus and Poland, about 30 people have been camped against a huge…

Blog

Social Media and Extremism

Applauding Biden’s New Strategy to Counter Antisemitism

WASHINGTON – Human Rights First welcomed the release of the Biden administration’s U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism as an important step toward addressing the rise in violence targeting the…

Press

Two Ukrainian Children at Risk of 20 Years in Russian Prison

By Brian Dooley Two 16 year-old Ukrainian boys are at risk of being sentenced to up to 20 years in prison by a Russian court, according to Kyiv-based NGO the Media…

Blog

Human Rights Defenders

How the Ukrainian village of Tsyrkuny Survived Russian Occupation

Within minutes of Russian troops crossing the border into Ukraine at the start of the full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022, they were in the small village of Tsyrkuny. Russian…

Reports

Access to U.S. Asylum

Joint Delegation Report Details Harms of Biden’s New Asylum Ban

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, following last week’s visit of civil rights, human rights, and immigrants rights organizations to Matamoros and Reynosa, Mexico and the Texas Rio Grande Valley, the delegation…

Press

Refugee Protection

Lives at Risk: Barriers and Harms As Biden Asylum Ban Takes Effect

From May 10-12, 2023, a delegation of human, civil, and immigrants’ rights leaders led by the Haitian Bridge Alliance visited the Texas Rio Grande Valley and the Mexican state of…

Reports

Troops at the Border

VFAI and veterans across the country are deeply concerned with recent domestic troop deployments amid anti-immigrant rhetoric that poses a unique threat to our democratic traditions. America’s veterans deserve border…

Fact Sheets

Ukraine and Russia

Civilians Under Air Attack in Ukraine Warned: “Overconfidence Is Your Weakness”

By Brian Dooley In the early hours of this morning, Kyiv was hit by what a local official described as an “exceptional” number of Russian missiles. For those of us…

Blog

Written Testimony of Amy Spitalnick on May 16, 2023

Written Testimony of Amy Spitalnick, Senior Advisor on Extremism, Human Rights First Before the Congress of the United States House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, and Accountability May 16,…

Testimony

Ukraine and Russia

Undaunted by War, Ukrainian Anti-Corruption Activists Track Public Spending

In 2017, we reported from the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on a series of attacks on activists who exposed local corruption. We documented how several of those associated with the…

Blog