Reports

This report finds that thousands of asylum seekers from Central America and elsewhere, including more than 4,780 children, are facing potentially dangerous and unlivable conditions after US authorities return them to Mexico. The US and Mexico agreed on June 7, 2019 to dramatically expand the returns program.

This report finds that Congress failed to mitigate health risks associated with this form of mining when it voted to roll back a modest regulation to protect streams from mining pollution.

This report documents how state and federal policies contribute to a treacherous reproductive health environment in Alabama, where women are dying from cervical cancer at rates higher than in any other US state.

This report documents the harmful impact of state and federal policies on transgender women in two Florida counties – Miami-Dade and Broward – that have the highest rates of new HIV infection in the United States.

This report documents the unique harms of putting mothers with minor children into pretrial detention. Jailed mothers are separated from their children for days, weeks, months, a year or more with limited means of substantial contact—which compounds the already extreme pressure to accept a guilty plea.

This report documents some of the obstacles that LGBT people face when seeking mental and physical healthcare services. Many LGBT people are unable to find services in their area, encounter discrimination or refusals of service in healthcare settings, or delay or forego care because of concerns of mistreatment.

Based on interviews with law enforcement in five states, immigration lawyers and crime victims, this report highlights stories of undocumented immigrants who courageously came forward to assist in the investigations of rapes, robberies, and attempted murders. 

Based on the analysis of independent medical experts, this report examines the 15 “Detainee Death Reviews” ICE released from December 2015 through April 2017. ICE has yet to publish reviews for one other death in that period.

This report is based on interviews with 110 women and children. Human Rights Watch found that US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents routinely separate adult men and teenage boys from other family members.

This report documents private probation company practices in Florida, Kentucky, Missouri, and Tennessee. These states allow private companies to supervise probation for minor crimes, including misdemeanors and criminal traffic offenses. Individuals pay their probation fees directly to the company.

This report documents how recent laws carve out space to discriminate against LGBT people in adoption and foster care, health care, and access to some goods and services.

This report estimates that every week in US nursing facilities, more than 179,000 people, mostly older and living with dementia, are given antipsychotic drugs without an appropriate diagnosis. Facilities administer these drugs in many cases without obtaining informed consent from residents or their families. 

This report documents the use of alternative explanations for how evidence was found, a practice known as “parallel construction.” This practice could prevent courts from scrutinizing the legality of questionable investigative methods, including surveillance.

The 109-page report, “The Deported: Immigrants Uprooted from the Country They Call Home,” along with an interactive website that became live on December 7, documents 43 cases in which immigrants, many of them long-term residents with strong family and other US ties, were deported through proceedings that largely disregar

This report examines the controversy over the operations inside the medical community and the pressure on parents to opt for surgery. Once called “hermaphrodites”—a term now considered pejorative and outdated, intersex people are not rare, but their needs are widely misunderstood.