Nick Schifrin:
The report removes stand-alone sections on women’s rights, LGBTQ rights, and discrimination on racial or ethnic lines.
It strengthens criticisms of countries that Trump and his administration have clashed with diplomatically and weakens criticism of some of the administration’s allies.
So let’s take one example, El Salvador, which, of course, as you know well, is the strongest regional immigration partner for the United States. Last year’s report, the last one written by the Biden administration, reads in part — quote — “Significant human rights issues included credible reports of unlawful or arbitrary killings and forced disappearance, torture or cruel and human or degrading treatment or punishment by security forces, harsh and life-threatening prison conditions, arbitrary arrest and detention.”
That paragraph actually goes on for double that length in the last Biden administration report. It has been replaced by this sentence: “There were no credible reports of significant human rights abuses” — quote, unquote.
So that’s the kind of change that you see. Today, Tammy Bruce, the State Department spokeswoman, was asked specifically about the El Salvador report. She didn’t engage with the text, but said this about the administration’s approach:
