WASHINGTON — The State Department is flipping the script on mass migration, framing the issue as a human rights concern and pushing host governments to share information on the negative effects of mass migration on their countries.
Historically, when lawmakers warn of a humanitarian crisis involving migrants, they are referring to the migrants themselves, and calling for them to be admitted into countries like the United States. But the Trump State Department is taking a different approach, warning that mass migration is linked to violent crime and human rights abuses that impact both the migrants and the countries they are entering.
In an internal cable exclusively obtained by The Daily Wire, the State Department warns that these threaten national sovereignty, rule of law, and American security. It specifically states in the cable: “Mass and illegal migration is a major human rights concern.”
The cable calls for diplomats at State Department posts around the world to regularly engage with host governments of migrant populations and track data about the violent crimes and human rights abuses associated with these migrant populations, as well as their impact on local crime.
“Crimes and human rights abuses perpetrated by migrants, as well as the activities of drug cartels, narco-terrorist organizations, and human trafficking syndicates that move them, result in widespread violence, corruption, forced displacement, and exploitation across the region,” the cable reads. “Facilitators of mass and illegal migration routinely engage in human trafficking, sexual violence, extortion, forced labor, and narcotics production—particularly of cocaine, synthetic opioids, and methamphetamine—contributing to ongoing national security threats, human rights abuses, and rule of law challenges for the United States and its hemispheric neighbors.”
State also orders its posts to engage with government officials, local businesses, media, “relevant civil society organizations,” and other affected individuals in order to obtain a full picture of the effects of mass migration on public order and security. The State Department posts will report claims of crimes and human rights abuses by these migrant populations, and they’ll provide analysis of government responses.
“The criminal networks and routes used for mass and illegal migration flows are used by transnational criminal organizations to facilitate the U.S.-bound movement of illicit commodities and create conditions for rampant crime and human rights abuses,” the cable reads.
“Within the United States, the influx of narcotics has led to an unprecedented level or overdose deaths, while economic migration undermines economic security for American workers and affects community safety. Similarly, criminal activity perpetrated by migrants and those facilitating mass and illegal migration routinely overwhelms and threatens American communities and their safety.”
If law enforcement are unduly favoring migrants at the expense of citizens, State wants to know. It also wants to know if governments or media are covering up or diluting information about migrant crime and punishment — or the lack thereof.
Doug Burgum, Marco Rubio, and US President Donald Trump during a cabinet meeting in Washington, DC. Photographer: Yuri Gripas/CNP/Bloomberg via Getty Images
“Reporting on incidents affecting U.S. citizens or American economic and security interests is especially welcomed and encouraged,” the cable states.
The point of the message, the cable says, is to “strengthen regional resolve to combat human rights abuses endemic to mass and illegal migration, including those involving organized criminal activity, sexual assault, and the destruction of public order, as well as to aggregate reporting for the 2025 human rights reports and other human rights-related engagements.”
The State Department will encourage governments facing migrant influxes to strengthen laws and authorities responsible for making sure that migrants are punished for crimes, without bias, to reinforce borders and shut down corruption, to discourage governments from displacing or seizing property from citizens, to limit government programs that are enabling mass migration and putting the public at risk, and more.
In talking points included in the cable, State urges posts to note that the United States is “deeply concerned about the convergence of mass and illegal migration, organized crime, and human trafficking across Latin America, which has fueled violence, corruption, and human rights abuses throughout the region.”
“Mass and illegal migration is a major human rights concern,” another talking point states. “Criminal groups, including cartels and terrorist organizations, control key migration routes, exploiting vulnerable people through kidnapping, extortion, sexual violence, and human trafficking via forced labor, sex trafficking, and child sex trafficking, making mass migration a significant human rights crisis in Latin America.”
The talking points argue that mass migration has put an enormous strain on United States asylum systems, resulting in “an overwhelming number of protections claims and a windfall for immigration lawyers and mass migration-promoting NGOs.”
State will be encouraging host governments to prioritize enforcement of their laws protecting their borders and holding human rights abusers accountable. That includes abuses committed by migrants and those facilitating mass migration or illegal immigration. State will also be highlighting how mass and illegal migration affects the citizens of the host governments, and the duty that these governments have to protect their own citizens, specifically when it comes to border enforcement and judicial cooperation.
Members of law enforcement, including the U.S. Secret Service and the Washington Metropolitan Police Department, respond to a shooting near the White House on November 26, 2025, in Washington, DC. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
“Respect for national sovereignty, human rights, and the rule of law is critical to international cooperation, domestic prosperity, and human flourishing,” another talking point states.
The United States, in particular, will highlight the threat of violent Islamists as well as Russian, Iranian, and Chinese nationals who are “seeking to take advantage of mass and illegal migration pathways to enter the Western Hemisphere.” State will also point to the mass migration of Venezuelans under Nicolás Maduro, border disputes between Chile and Peru, and more to show that these issues are relevant not only to the U.S. but to, many governments throughout the Western Hemisphere.
“We call on your government to work closely with local communities, law enforcement, and civil society to develop transparent, effective policies that uphold sovereignty, maintain law and order, and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms,” reads another suggested talking point. “The United States stands ready, willing, and able to assist countries in solving the global crisis of mass and illegal migration, particularly our neighbors in Latin America.”
And the final talking point states: “As President Trump stated, ‘A nation without borders is not a nation,’ emphasizing that safeguarding sovereignty and security is essential for the well-being of all citizens.”
The State Department believes that the mass and illegal migration in Latin America has created possibly the “most serious humanitarian and security challenges facing the Western Hemisphere,” pointing to the criminal groups exploiting the immigration routes for trafficking both humans and drugs. It also highlights the massive amount of sexual violence in Latin America due to the flow of migration throughout the region.
Doctors without Borders documented 676 cases of sexual assault in 2023 in Panama’s Darién Gap, the State Department notes, “indicating migration trains were easily exploited by armed gangs and traffickers.” And State’s 2025 Trafficking in Persons Report for Guatemala found that even local police and border officials extorted or coerced migrants into sexual exploitation.
“This demonstrates how uncontrolled migration corridors enable criminal activity, facilitate human rights abuses, and expose migrants—especially women and children—to extreme violence,” the cable notes.
“Migrants and local populations alike suffer from systemic human rights abuses,” State adds. “The infiltration of cartels into law enforcement and political systems also undermines the rule of law. The production and trafficking of cocaine and synthetic opioids through Mexico and Central America have fueled a public health catastrophe in the United States, where overdose deaths have reached historic highs.”
The move comes on the heels of another massive action from the State Department. In late November, immediately following a fatal attack on two National Guardsmen in Washington, D.C. by an Afghan national, State directed its posts to refuse visas to Afghan nationals using Afghan passports, ordering diplomats and consular officers to refuse “all otherwise eligible Afghan nationals” whether they’re applying for a non-immigrant visa, special immigrant visa, or immigrant visa.
The move was intended to “ensure that such applications have undergone necessary security vetting and to validate screening protocols ensuring the applicant’s identity and eligibility for a visa under U.S. law.”
The man who shot the National Guardsmen was 29-year-old Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal, The Daily Wire reported. Lakanwal was let into the country during President Joe Biden’s administration in 2021, admitted as part of the former president’s “Operation Allies Welcome,” the Afghan refugee program in the wake of Biden’s botched Afghanistan withdrawal.
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