Ringing the Alarm Bells: Rising Authoritarian Practices and Erosion of Human Rights in the United States

One year into President Trump’s second administration, the United States of America is showing a recognizable pattern of authoritarian practices and erosion of human rights that Amnesty International has documented for decades across countries worldwide. 

In 2025, President Trump acted quickly and consistently through executive actions and administrative measures to shrink civic space and undermine the rule of law domestically and internationally, with both short- and long-term consequences for human rights safeguards.

The Trump administration’s efforts to intimidate, silence, and punish protesters and critics, restrict the press and reshape access to information, and systematically erode the rule of law are creating a human rights emergency. These actions are mutually reinforcing: press intimidation makes human rights violations and abuses harder to expose; retaliation against protest makes people afraid to speak; expanding surveillance and militarization increases the costs of dissent; and attacks on courts, lawyers, and oversight bodies make accountability harder to enforce. 

This report provides an overview of twelve alarm bells:

1. Targeting freedom of the press and access to information
2. Targeting freedom of expression and assembly
3. Targeting civil society and universities
4. Targeting political opponents and critics
5. Targeting judges, lawyers, and the legal system
6. Undermining due process
7. Attacking refugee and migrant rights
8. Scapegoating populations and rolling back non-discrimination policies 
9. Using the military for domestic purposes and militarizing law enforcement
10. Dismantling checks on corporate accountability and anti-corruption measures
11. Increasing surveillance capacity
12. Undermining international systems designed to protect human rights

This report also includes calls to federal, state, and local officials, public institutions, civil society, and private actors such as technology companies to match the urgency with practical steps to safeguard civic space, restore rule-of-law safeguards, and prevent the normalization of repression and human rights violations. 

At stake are the rights that enable people to defend all other rights and live without fear from the arbitrary exercise of power and discrimination, including the rights to freedom of the press, expression, and peaceful protest; a fair trial and due process; equality and non-discrimination; and privacy.

When these rights are weakened, the harms do not stay contained – they spread.