Little Marco's redlined human rights
An upcoming State Department report may abandon Rubio's once-beloved 'freedom-seeking people'
By Sam Bellamy
Marco Rubio is a huge fan of the State Department’s annual report on human rights around the world – or at least he was until he surrendered what remained of his conscience to the man who gleefully and relentlessly mocked him as “Little Marco.”
Twelve years ago, then-Sen. Rubio praised the human rights report as a strong message to authoritarians that “the United States will stand with freedom-seeking people around the world.”
Rubio said the report played a vital role spotlighting “foreign governments' failure to respect citizens' fundamental rights … from the sexual exploitation of women and children to the denial of political rights to minorities.”
Now that he’s gained a seat closer to the presidency, though, Rubio’s view of the report seems to be meh.
In April, NPR and Politico both reported they had obtained documents instructing State Department employees to edit this year’s report to align with Trump administration policies and the president’s numerous executive orders.
While edits and changes in approach to the report aren’t unusual when a new president takes over, particularly one from the opposite party, the revisions being made by Trump’s team don’t appear be minor or routine.
Under these instructions, the report is to be stripped down to what the Trump administration interprets as the minimum required by law. Long-held U.S. principles are being redlined.
Diversity, equity and inclusion are out, of course. So are references to violence and discrimination against people who are LGBTQ+.
Numerous categories of abuse have been eliminated, according to NPR and Politico, including involuntary or coercive medical or psychological practices, gender-based violence, violence or threats against people with disabilities, discrimination against indigenous people and interference with privacy and internet freedom.
NPR reported that the memo includes a marked-up version of the report showing the deletion of a section on government corruption in Hungary, led by Viktor Orban, an authoritarian Trump has publicly and repeatedly praised as “a great man and a great leader.” Politico reported that sections on corruption in other nations are being deleted.
The draft is now in Rubio’s office and is expected to be released any day now, according to Politico.
The report is important and not just as a statement of U.S. foreign policy. As Politico’s Nahal Toosi described it, “The annual report is widely anticipated and read in capitals around the world, and it is relied upon heavily by advocacy organizations, lawyers and others who consider it a reliable, fact-based document. Asylum officers, for instance, use it to assess whether someone seeking protection has a credible fear of persecution should they be forced to return to their country.”
The latter point, as we all know, isn’t of interest to the Trump administration. Undocumented immigrants have been sent to a prison in Venezuela with well-documented human rights abuses. Rubio is revoking visas from foreign students without regard to what sort of life awaits them back home. ICE-led roundups have been sloppily and cruelly executed and have even targeted U.S. citizens.
Under the guise of driving out violent criminals, Rubio is overseeing an operation that jettisons good, freedom-seeking people to return lives of human rights abuses and even death. Rubio’s actions are all the more vile because he’s gained power in part by telling the story – the sometimes exaggerated story – of his family’s flight from Fidel Castro’s Cuba.
There’s a chance, however remote, that Rubio will ensure the final report accurately and, as comprehensively as possible, still reflects the state of human rights across the globe.
If it doesn’t, we can count on Democrats to condemn, with varying degrees of forcefulness, the reversal of decades of U.S. work to further freedom abroad.
Meanwhile, Republicans, including those who have long delighted in (rightfully) calling out abuses in communist countries, will face yet another test of their consciences, their souls.
Will they sit by meekly as Trump helps authoritarians cover up their crimes and nudges – shoves – our own country toward their way of life?
Or will Republicans finally speak up?
Probably not. Perhaps it’s time for our friends in Canada, the UK and the rest of Europe prepare their own annual reports with an expanded section on the United States.
Sadly, a separate volume may be needed before we done.