The US government under President Donald Trump has accused Germany of shortcomings in freedom of expression and of increasing antisemitism due to migration. The human rights situation in the Federal Republic has deteriorated over the past year, according to the annual report of the US State Department, presented Tuesday in Washington. “Restrictions on freedom of expression” and antisemitic violence in Germany “constitute significant human rights problems,” the authors write.
There is “censorship” in Germany, for example on online platforms, the US human rights report states, referring to the EU requirement for Facebook or X to delete hate messages. In combating the causes of antisemitism, German federal authorities have also placed too much emphasis on right-wing extremists and downplayed the role of immigrant Muslims, it continues.
Similar criticism is made of other European countries such as France and Great Britain. Authoritarian countries such as El Salvador, which support Trump in his deportation policy, receive good marks.
Regarding Germany, the report states that the German Basic Law does guarantee press and freedom of expression. “Nonetheless, the government, in accordance with national law, imposed restrictions on the freedom of expression of groups it considered extremist.” For example, in the past year several people were arrested or convicted for inciting racial hatred and for endorsing or denying the Holocaust. The authors do not cite specific cases.
The Trump administration’s report also criticizes that “antisemitic crimes” in Germany “more than doubled” in the first nine months of 2024. In combating the causes, however, the federal authorities placed too much emphasis on right-wing extremists and downplayed the role of immigrant Muslims.
“Research suggests that an important driver of antisemitism in Germany (…) has been the mass immigration (legal, illegal, and via asylum) of population groups who are more likely to hold antisemitic beliefs than native-born Germans, with record numbers of migrants from Syria, Afghanistan, and Turkey in recent years,” the report states.
In recent months, statements by US government members on German and European policy have already caused irritation. In February, US Vice President JD Vance accused Europeans of alleged shortcomings in freedom of expression at the Munich Security Conference and criticized Germany’s handling of the AfD.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio even spoke of “covert tyranny” in Germany after the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution in May provisionally classified the AfD as “confirmed right-wing extremist.” Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) rejected such interference in domestic politics.
The US government report gives good marks to El Salvador. In the Central American country, there are “no credible reports of serious human rights violations,” it says. Organizations such as Human Rights Watch and Reporters Without Borders, however, accuse Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele of systematically undermining democracy since 2019, harassing the media, and imprisoning dissidents.
Trump deports irregular migrants to countries such as El Salvador or South Sudan, which are considered rogue states. The US president claims that the migrants concerned are without exception criminals, rapists, and murderers.
The US State Department, on the other hand, attests to a poor human rights situation in countries such as Brazil or South Africa, with which Trump is at odds. The US president accuses South Africa of “genocide” against white farmers.
In addition, he is trying to use high tariffs to force Brazil to drop a case against his ally, former president Jair Bolsonaro. Brazil’s Supreme Court accuses Bolsonaro of attempting a coup after his electoral defeat in January 2023. The case is reminiscent of the storming of the US Capitol by Trump supporters in January 2021.
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