JAKARTA - The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination issued an urgent warning Wednesday that racial profiling and dehumanising rhetoric from senior US political figures, including the president, are driving serious rights violations against migrants, asylum seekers and refugees.

The committee, known as CERD, said migrants have been portrayed “as criminals or as a burden, by politicians and influential public figures at the highest level of the state party, particularly its president.” It also said this framing “fosters intolerance and may incite racial discrimination and hate crimes.” 

The report was filed under CERD’s early warning and urgent action procedure, which allows the body’s 18 independent experts to act between its regular sessions, an indication of the severity with which they view the situation.

The committee named people of Hispanic and Latino, African and Asian origin as the groups most exposed to racial profiling by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers, saying arbitrary identity checks “have reportedly resulted in the widespread arrest of refugees, asylum seekers, migrants and persons perceived as such.”

At least 675,000 people have been deported since January 2025. Detention numbers rose from roughly 40,000 in late 2024 to around 73,000 at the start of this year. At least 31 migrants died in ICE detention in 2025, the deadliest year in two decades, and CERD cited at least six more deaths in January 2026 alone. 

In fiscal year terms, 23 people had already died in ICE custody since October 2025 as of March 10, surpassing the agency's full prior fiscal year total, according to NPR

Between January 20 and mid-October 2025, ICE carried out 7,752 arrests, 7,243 detentions and 2,776 deportations of A/PI individuals, roughly four times the rate under the previous administration, according to Stop AAPI Hate’s analysis of data obtained from ICE under a freedom of information request.

Chinese nationals made up the largest share at 26 percent, followed by Indians at 25 percent and Vietnamese at 12 percent. Southeast Asians are deported at three to five times the rate of other immigrant groups based on prior criminal convictions, according to the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center.