HRMI reports U.S. human rights deterioration in 2025

A set of analyses converge on the finding that the United States’ civil and political rights have deteriorated in 2025, according to the Human Rights Measurement Initiative and linked scholars. The reports highlight declines in core rights, including freedom from forced disappearance, freedom of religion, and broader rights to opinion, expression, assembly, and political participation, driven by warrantless arrests, incommunicado detention, immigrant enforcement practices, and deadly airstrikes. Critics argue that the U.S. lags behind other high-income democracies in human rights performance and that the decline has persisted across administrations, raising questions about the country’s overall commitment to rights protections. In public discourse, President Trump’s assertions that the U.S. is “home of freedom” and “doing better now” are contrasted with these measurements, underscoring a tension between rhetoric and data. HRMI co-founders and other scholars stress the ongoing challenge of reliably measuring abuses, given governments’ incentives to underreport. The collection of analyses from multiple outlets reinforces a consistent narrative of deteriorating rights conditions in the United States in 2025, prompting calls for accountability and reform.