US civic freedoms score downgraded as rights groups sound alarm

NEW YORK - The United States has been officially downgraded from "Narrowed" to "Obstructed" by global civic-space monitor CIVICUS, marking a sharp reversal in civil liberties, even as critics raise alarms about what that decline might signal worldwide.

Under the new classification, the US joins 39 countries whose civic spaces are defined by systemic restrictions on protest, media freedom, academic expression and association.

"No longer safe to dissent or speak out," say rights groups

CIVICUS Secretary-General Mandeep Tiwana told Rudaw that the downgrade reflects a stark erosion of constitutional protections.

"The United States is no longer a country where civic freedoms - peaceful assembly, association, and expression - are adequately protected," he said. "People who protest, organizations that critique the government, and journalists who expose wrongdoing are no longer safe."

Echoing that assessment, Brian Hauss, deputy director at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), offered a more critical view of the administration of US President Donald Trump.

“This is the worst administration on First Amendment values we've seen in over a century... we're seeing federal attacks on dissent across the board,” he told Rudaw, citing crackdowns on pro-Palestine activists, legal pressure on media outlets and attempts to influence university curricula.

According to rights observers, recent actions have included deploying federal troops to suppress protests, using immigration and visa laws to threaten and detain activists, and expanding surveillance of dissent.

Broader crackdown: media, campus activism, civil society under strain

Amnesty International’s Representative at the United Nations, Joyce Bukuru, told Rudaw that the crackdown is especially severe on causes the administration finds politically threatening.

"The crackdown is targeting immigration rights, climate justice, pro-Palestine solidarity," she said. "What CIVICUS found is absolutely right. This 'Obstructed' label defines exactly what is happening in this country today - and we should all be alarmed."

Media freedom has also come under intense pressure. According to the CIVICUS report, journalists covering protests face arrest or intimidation; public broadcasters have lost federal funding; and independent outlets face legal threats.

Widad Franco, Human Rights Watch (HRW) UN advocate, cautioned that the implications go far beyond US borders.

"It sends a very dangerous message to governments everywhere that human rights are no longer important," she told Rudaw.

Mixed messages from the administration

The moves come even as the Trump administration formally positions itself as a defender of free speech. In January 2025, on his first day back in office, the White House signed an executive order titled Executive Order 14149, committing to "restore freedom of speech and end federal censorship."

But critics argue the order is largely symbolic, pointing instead to other actions that suggest a contradictory reality. Civil-liberties advocates note that multiple federal laws, restrictions, and enforcement practices have increasingly targeted dissenting voices, activists, protesters, journalists, academics, and immigrants.

The recent downgrade, despite the administration's stated policy, has drawn sharp domestic and international attention, intensifying concerns that the US may no longer serve as a reliable model for democratic values.

For decades, the US has claimed to champion civil rights and democratic governance worldwide. Those assumptions are now under question. As the US nears 250 years of independence, advocates say civil liberties must be urgently restored to prevent further democratic decline.