Statements

Trump's MAGA Model for Citizenship: The Supreme Court & the Threat Posed by Trump’s Assault on Birthright Citizenship in the USA

July 11, 2025

The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and Human Security is deeply concerned and disappointed by the recent Trump v. CASA decision issued by the US Supreme Court (SCOTUS) to curb the judicial use of nationwide injunctions, thereby ending the injunction blocking the nationwide enforcement of President Trump’s executive order limiting birthright citizenship. This Supreme Court’s decision sets the stage for the flagrant use of unconstitutional policies by the Trump Administration, the erosion of birthright citizenship nationwide, the destruction of the power of citizenship to protect people from the whims of the state, and the possible denaturalization of citizens based on political criteria related to the Administration’s overarching revolutionary goals. In other words, the Supreme Court has opened the door to lawlessness and totalitarianism.

The Court is set to deliberate on the legality of Trump’s executive order unilaterally limiting birthright citizenship in October. However, until a final decision is made, states are left to navigate the enforcement of Trump’s order with the possibility of such enforcement being blocked by subsequent narrower injunctions. This will create a confusing and unjust patchwork of legal realities across the United States where the order is blocked in localities with legal challenges while the order comes into force elsewhere – a direct challenge to the legal principle of nondiscrimination. A patchwork enforcement of an order that limits a fundamental constitutional right like birthright citizenship threatens to result in mass violations of civil and human rights, creating legal and logistical chaos while leaving future generations stateless and vulnerable to Trump’s mass deportation efforts.

Not only has the Court failed in preserving fundamental human and constitutional rights but it has paved the way for Trump’s “MAGA Model” for citizenship. This model will politicize citizenship through a process of denaturalization in which renaturalization is reserved only for people who fit within MAGA’s vision for U.S. society while those who do not fit are slated for detention and deportation. While we still can, we must challenge Trump’s unlawful policies, especially those that threaten fundamental constitutional rights, not only in the courts but everywhere else. If Trump’s attempts at expanding his executive power are left unchecked, Trump’s MAGA Model will become a reality across the US and any vestiges of the country’s democratic institution will be completely erased.

Statement on German Chancellor Merz’s Framing of Israeli Actions in Iran as “Dirty Work for All of Us”

July 2, 2025


The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and Human Security condemns the statement made by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on 18 June 2025 while speaking with the German broadcaster ZDFheute. Merz claimed that Israel "is doing the dirty work for all of us," referring to the airstrikes conducted against Iran since 13 June 2025. During these attacks, residential areas in Tehran were targeted, resulting in the killing of over 900 people, including hundreds of civilians.

At a time when offhand remarks by heads of state justifying criminality are becoming more and more common, the Lemkin Institute urges Germany to refrain from rhetoric that dehumanizes a nation, justifies aggressive war, and condones civilian harm.

The Lemkin Institute further urges the German leadership to reaffirm its legal and moral commitments to its own Constitution, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and International Humanitarian Law.

Statement on Allegations of Drug-Laced Flour Bags Distributed by Israel in Gaza

July 2, 2025

The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and Human Security is deeply horrified by reports that flour bags distributed to Palestinians under the joint Israeli-American “Gaza Humanitarian Foundation” (GHF) have allegedly been laced with narcotic substances.

The Lemkin Institute urgently calls on the United Nations and international humanitarian organizations to initiate an immediate and independent investigation into these disturbing allegations. Humanitarian aid must be delivered in a transparent, safe, and neutral manner, rather than being weaponized to further a genocidal campaign.

Statement in Solidarity with Anti-ICE Protesters

Released 20 June, 2025


The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and Human Security condemns the ongoing ICE raids across the United States, the police violence against anti-ICE protesters, and the Trump Adminstration’s unlawful deployment of the California National Guard and US Marines in Los Angeles. We wholeheartedly agree with our colleagues at Genocide Watch that ICE’s mass deportations constitute a crime against humanity. Moreover, we see many red flags for genocide within the Administration’s anti-immigrant activities. We fear that escalating violence against protesters and elected officials questioning the Trump regime could result in further crimes against humanity, including murder, imprisonment, enforced disappearance of persons, torture, and persecution.

Statement on the G7 Statement Related to Israel’s War of Aggression against Iran

June 18, 2025

The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and Human Security believes that the G7 leaders have demonstrated unforgivable, willful ignorance about the crime of genocide and the proper way to engage with states that are committing genocide.

The recent G7 statement on Israel’s illegal aggressive war against Iran not only fails to treat Israel as a major threat to peace and security globally, but also engages in propaganda techniques that are most commonly used by genocidal actors.

G7 leaders should know better than to guarantee impunity to Israel. If they really do not know better, if they believe their own words, they should organize immediate training for themselves and their staffs in genocide prevention. The world needs leaders -- not amateurs or ideological puppets -- making critical decisions at this dangerous time.

Statement Condemning Israel's Attacks on Iran

June 14, 2025

The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and Human Security condemns Israel’s unlawful attacks on Iran targeting nuclear sites and leaders across the country, including in residential buildings in Tehran, which have killed at least 78 people and injured 300 more. Israel clearly aims to derail US President Trump’s ongoing negotiations with Iran towards a nuclear deal. As many analysts have pointed out, Israel’s actions risk a regional war and could advance all humanity further towards a global war.

We continue to call for an end to Israel's genocide in Gaza. We further call on all nations, including especially the United States, to pull Israel back from the brink and protect Iran's sovereignty.

A Test for the Future of Human Rights in the United States: the Continued Imprisonment of Kilmar Abrego Garcia

Released on 29, May 2025

The Lemkin Institute condemns the unlawful deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia and his continued arbitrary detention in El Salvador as well as President Donald Trump’s defiance of the Supreme Court order to facilitate his release and return to the United States.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s wrongful deportation due to an “administrative error” without due process and in violation of a court order of non-removal for fear of persecution is emblematic of the ongoing human rights violations from Trump’s immigrant crackdown. In addition, the Trump administration’s continued testing of the US court system through its defiance of any restraint placed on their targeting of noncitizens poses a threat to the future of human rights in the country. Trump’s open defiance of court orders with little to no real consequence gives him and his administration the greenlight to escalate their targeting of noncitizens and citizens alike. Abrego Garcia’s case is another test. Any outcome short of Abrego Garcia being released and returned to the US and the Trump administration held accountable will signal that they can use deportation as a method to effectively disappear those who don’t fit within their vision of America–a clear red flag for an escalating genocidal process.

We Sacrifice Law and Morality When We Allow Israel to Commit Genocide Without Repercussions

Released on 23 May, 2025

The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and Human Security mourns the murders of Sarah Lynn Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky, two young workers at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, DC, who were gunned down yesterday outside of the Capital Jewish Museum after attending the American Jewish Committee’s Young Diplomats Reception. Predicatbly, it did not take long for many politicians and people in the media to embrace the retributive logic that led to Milgrim and Lischinsky’s murders by turning the tragic murders into a renewed justification for ongoing genocide in Gaza and the supression of anti-genocide activists in North America, the UK, and Europe.

The exploitation of these two young people’s deaths for political gain is a disgrace and a dishonor to their memory.

In the murder of Milgrim and Lischinsky we encounter the horrifying fact that genocide creates a world without laws and morals. Perpetrators assume that their superior force will protect them, but there is no Iron Dome when it comes to blowback.

Perpetrators of genocide make all their own rules and thereby unwittingly open the door for everyone else in the world to do the same. If perpetrators are not stopped, if, as in the case of Israel, there is no real attempt by any government in the world to push back forcefully against the crime, the crime itself – its darkness, its logic, its destructive force – will overtake the entire world.

We call on everyone who opposes genocide to condemn efforts to weaponize these murders in the pursuit of ideological, authoritarian, and expansionist goals. Human beings are stronger when we stand together. If we want to live in a just world, we must fight for a big tent where morals and laws have meaning. We can only end the cycle of violence by making violence unnecessary. There is no end to genocide unless we collectively decide to end it.

We’re Glad to See You Use the G-Word, but Now You Must Act

Released on 18 May 2025

We welcome the sudden about face among some scholars, NGOs, the media, and government officials in Europe, who are now ready to declare what is happening in Gaza a genocide. It is beyond regretful that it took the situation reaching this level of extremity for so many to find the courage to speak out.

While the correct time to act passed long ago, failure to act now will be perhaps the most egregious failure of humanity in the annals of human history. Every single leader – in the West and outside of it – who does not take action at this decisive moment will ensure for themselves a shameful legacy defined by cruelty and cowardice.

World leaders simply do not have any other choice but to confront Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Any choice other than decisive and immediate action will result in the full-scale extirpation of Palestinian life in Palestine as well as a rapid expansion of genocidal violence in the Middle East.

Four Facts about Israel’s Genocide

Released on 18 May 2025


The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and Human Security welcomes the scholars, NGOs, media outlets, and large human rights organizations who have spoken out in the past week and have used the correct term – genocide – to describe the horror that Israel is inflicting on Palestinians in Gaza. We believe that correctly diagnosing the problem is critical to the creation of a long-term and sustainable peace. We also believe that the consistent and correct use of this term will help guide genocide prevention efforts in the future.

Given that many of the people suddenly recognizing genocide in Gaza are connected with large, respected institutions, such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, some people may assume that it was impossible to responsibly use the term before the present exterminationist pattern. Others may assume that the only genocidal crime committed by Israel is the current man-made famine.

We wish to counter these two false impressions with four facts.

Statement on Escalating Violence between India and Pakistan

May 8, 2025

The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and Human Security strongly condemns the escalation of violence across the Line of Control (LoC) between Indian- and Pakistan-administered Kashmir. This escalation has followed India’s launch of Operation Sindoor on 7 May in retaliation for the Pahalgam terror attack on 22 April, which India blames on Pakistan. Since then, India has carried out missile strikes targeting sites in Pakistan’s Punjab province and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, which have resulted in the deaths of at least 31 people, including children as young as three years old, and injured dozens. We call on both India and Pakistan to exercise maximum restraint and cease all forms of military aggression immediately. Escalating this conflict serves no national interest and only brings immense suffering to millions of innocent civilians on both sides. We urge the international community, particularly key global actors and multilateral institutions, to intervene immediately and bring both countries to the negotiating table. The world cannot afford another catastrophic conflict—especially one involving two nuclear powers.

Statement on the Recent Terrorist Attack in Jammu and Kashmir

May 3, 2025

The Lemkin Institute For Genocide Prevention and Human Security unequivocally condemns the recent terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir, which has resulted in tragic loss of at least 26 lives and left many more injured. We at the Lemkin Institute extend our heartfelt sympathies and condolences to the families of the victims and wish a swift recovery to those who were injured.

In this critical moment, we take note of Pakistan’s offer for a neutral, international investigation into the attack. Transparency is essential to ensuring justice and preventing future violence. India must cooperate with credible, neutral mechanisms — justice cannot be served through unilateral actions or politicized narratives.

As an organization committed to genocide prevention, we warn against the dangers of unchecked hostility, which can exacerbate communal violence and put civilian lives at risk. The government of India must not use this attack as an excuse to enact genocidal violence against Muslim communities in Kashmir, other parts of India, or Pakistan. Both nations must return to diplomatic channels, uphold their obligations under international law, and work toward a peaceful resolution.

The people of Jammu and Kashmir have endured decades of conflict. It is time to break this cycle. We stand with all victims of violence and urge global stakeholders to support de-escalation, impartial investigations, and meaningful dialogue between India and Pakistan.