A Commission Monitoring Human Rights Violations Is Concerned About the US

On Tuesday afternoon, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights convened in Washington, DC, to hear complaints about excessive use of force and suppression of freedom of expression during protests against immigration enforcement in American cities. One of those who attended and testified at the public hearing was Antonio Romanucci, a Chicago-based civil rights litigation lawyer representing the family of Renee Good, who was fatally shot by a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Minneapolis in January.

He began by thanking the commission for hosting a forum to examine “human rights atrocities” in the United States. “What we saw with Renee,” Romanucci said, “was a federal agent clearly using deadly force without any legal justification, in an extreme manner, shocking the conscience of our country.” Romanucci, who previously secured a settlement in a wrongful death civil rights case on behalf of George Floyd’s family, said “zero federal investigation” resulted in no accountability in Minneapolis, or elsewhere. “I have not seen these atrocities in my 41 years of practice,” he added.

The IACHR, an autonomous body of the Organization of American States, monitors human rights conditions in the hemisphere and hears complaints from civil society about alleged violations. Romanucci, along with Thomas Becker of the University Network for Human Rights, appealed to the commission, requesting a hearing on the US government’s actions against protesters, journalists, and bystanders at demonstrations opposing the Trump administration’s immigration policies.

“As Donald Trump attacks the courts, weaponizes the Department of Justice, and targets attorneys who challenge his administration,” Romanucci and Becker explained in an opinion piece published in the Guardian previewing the hearing, “we have been forced to seek justice beyond our borders.” They added: “Never before had the commission granted such a hearing, but the extraordinary nature of the Trump administration’s actions…warrants international scrutiny.”

“For years, the Commission has heard testimony about the attacks on protesters carried out by some of the region’s most repressive dictatorships. Now, it is the United States that will be called to answer for these abuses.”

A press release said this marked the first time the IACHR, which doesn’t have enforcement authority, held such a thematic hearing on freedom of expression and the right to peaceful assembly in the United States. “For years, the Commission has heard testimony about the attacks on protesters carried out by some of the region’s most repressive dictatorships,” James Cavallaro, former president of the IACHR, said in a statement. “Now, it is the United States that will be called to answer for these abuses.”

Rev. David Black, a pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Chicago, was one of the speakers. He recounted how in September 2025, he was wearing his clerical collar when hejoined a protest outside the ICE detention facility in Broadview to say a prayer and stand in solidarity with the immigrant detainees. “My words were confrontational,” Rev. Black told the commission. “They were also peaceful.”

He said federal agents fired pepper-balls at him at least seven times, hitting his head, face, torso, arms, and legs. Other protesters tried to cover him, he said, but agents in full armor forced him down and sprayed the pastor with a chemical irritant. Rev. Black, who was part of a federal lawsuit against the US government last year decrying a “pattern of extreme brutality” by federal agents, recalled struggling to breathe. “What happened to me was not an isolated incident,” he said, stating that clergy have been “repeatedly assaulted” outside detention centers and prevented from ministering inside.

The delegation also condemned the Trump administration’s efforts to label protesters as domestic terrorists. Boston University law professor Susan Akram called the policies “blatantly illegal and draconian” and part of a “campaign to criminalize dissent, free expression, and ideologies that this administration dislikes.” Akram said the measures violated international law and “are frankly reviving McCarthyism in the United States.”

Andrea Pochak, one of the IACHR commissioners, said priests, journalists, human rights lawyers, and immigrants are not terrorists. She also inquired about cases in which federal agents engaged in excessive use of force had been disciplined or criminally charged. “The system of accountability is broken,” said Locke Bowman, an attorney representing Rev. Black and two other Chicago residents who have filed claims against the Department of Homeland Security.

The US government provided little in the way of response. Acting Deputy Chief of Mission to the OAS Julianna Aynes-Neville declined to answer questions, citing ongoing litigation. “I am circumscribed in what I am able to say today,” she said. “The United States must once again register dissatisfaction with the decision to convene this hearing on these matters.” She urged the commission to redirect its attention to backlogged cases and countries with “weak or nonexistent protections” for freedom of expression.

Cavallaro, the former president of IACHR, urged the commission to visit the United States to observe the human rights situation in the country. “If there’s nothing to hide, if the system is working, if cases are investigated, if abuses are addressed,” he said, addressing the US representatives, “please show that to the commission.”

“Without any transparent investigation there will never be any discipline,” Romanucci, the lawyer for Renee Good’s family, said, “there will never be any accountability.” After the hearing, Romanucci told Mother Jones the government’s evasiveness at the hearing mirrored its handling of Good’s killing. “Not only do we hear common design in justifying the narrative when there is deadly force or excessive force used,” he said, “this also, to me, is a common design of not answering questions or releasing information in order to make this process more transparent.”

Asked about the investigation into the fatal shooting of Good, Romanucci said, “the status today is the same as it was in January.” He added: “There has been no exchange of information with regard to the evidence of the case and we just hope to be able to get some answers very soon.” As for the IACHR’s hearing, Romanucci called for concrete action. “This was a good start,” he said, “but all that was exchanged today were words. We need to see much more.”