Refugee and Migrant Rights Division Director at Human Rights Watch
Washington, DC
Joined March 2012
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Bill Frelick retweeted
🇺🇸The Trump administration is sending hundreds of people to African countries where they have no connections. Many have been left with no practical option but to return to their home countries regardless of the harm they face there.
Read more: hrw.org/report/2026/10/08/to…
“Deporting people to countries where they have never set foot is part of a US policy designed to cause human suffering as a means to deter migration,” said Michael Garcia Bochenek, interim US program director at @hrw. New report available here: hrw.org/news/2026/10/08/us-d…
HRW's first-hand account from Cap-Haïtien on US deportations to Haiti and how they endanger lives:
hrw.org/news/2026/09/21/us-d…
Bill Frelick retweeted
"I was not counted as a human being. I was counted, like a number, like ‘ah 16!’. They never called me by my name."
Since 2001, Australia has forcibly transferred more than 5,000 asylum seekers to offshore detention. The offshore detention policy has caused profound harm to men, women, and children seeking refuge.
Learn more: bit.ly/4ixAWzu
Please read this first-hand account from my @hrw colleague @NathalyeCo who met Haitians as they first set foot back in Haiti after losing TPS: “They Will Kill Me”: Haitian Deportees from U.S. Face Fear, Uncertainty justsecurity.org/157194/hait…
Australia’s offshore detention has caused profound harm 2 asylum seekers since its introduction 25 years ago. Rather than abiding by its int'l legal obligations, Australia has hardened its abusive policies, contributing 2 a global erosion of refugee law.
hrw.org/news/2026/09/10/aust…
Diplomatic Assurances on torture are not worth the paper they're printed on. My commentary about the US deporting a Mexican man at serious risk of torture on the basis of a diplomatic assurance that he won't be tortured:
hrw.org/news/2026/08/26/not-…
Every day, another appalling story about the Trump administration deporting people to danger. Here's my commentary on the latest: hrw.org/news/2026/08/26/not-…
Spain has finally started sheltering thousands of migrants & asylum seekers who lived outdoors for 3 weeks in Ceuta. Many still need adequate shelter & food, and all need fair, individual assessments. @HRW's report after a 4-day mission to Ceuta: hrw.org/news/2026/08/21/spai…
“Settlers shoot, attack, and expel Palestinians from their land, and the state provides the weapons, the legal cover, and the budget to do it.” @SarahSanbar, acting Israel and Palestine researcher at @hrw.
hrw.org/news/2026/08/20/west…
"Nearly five years after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, one issue should be beyond dispute: Afghanistan is not safe for anyone forcibly returned there." Commentary from my @HRW colleague @FereshtaAbbasi. thehill.com/opinion/internat…
Thai authorities should halt the imminent deportation of 26 ethnic Karen villagers from Phetchaburi province to Myanmar and release them from immigration detention.
hrw.org/news/2026/08/18/thai…
How is it that State Dept's travel advisory certifies Haiti as too dangerous to travel to while preparing to deport some 350,000 Haitians there? My commentary:
hrw.org/news/2026/07/23/us-o…
Bill Frelick retweeted
New @hrw: #Egypt is escalating arrests, deportations of #refugees, asylum seekers, targeting many whose residency expired bc of gov delays in processing renewals. Bureaucratic failure should never be grounds for detention and deportation. hrw.org/news/2026/07/07/egyp…
My @hrw colleague, Lauren Seibert, comments on why African countries should not accept third country nationals being deported from the United States. africanarguments.org/2026/07…
Supreme Court gives Trump another brick in the wall to block asylum seekers--my thoughts. thehill.com/opinion/immigrat…
.@hrw is hiring an Externalization Researcher to investigate & expose human rights abuses relating to migrants, refugees & asylum seekers w/ an initial focus on US govt efforts to block entry or access to asylum & to externalize migration controls. Go to: job-boards.greenhouse.io/hum…
Türk: States must halt involuntary returns to Afghanistan ohchr.org/en/press-releases/…
Bill Frelick retweeted
Thanks @pbsnewshour for featuring @hrw on the consequences of the EU funding #Mauritania to toughen migration/border controls despite documented abuses against migrants. Meanwhile, thousands of migrants die at sea while SAR is insufficient & underfunded. pbs.org/newshour/show/how-eu…
Bill Frelick retweeted
🚨#SaudiArabia is executing #Ethiopian migrants for non violent drug-related offences after unfair trials where detainees were beaten. 65 others await the death penalty.
Saudi Arabia’s partners should urgently intervene before it is too late.
hrw.org/news/2026/04/28/saud…
