We, the undersigned respectfully request:

That the House of Representatives urge the government to immediately sever all diplomatic ties with the United States of America and we ask that their ambassador should be asked to leave immediately for the reasons outlined below. 

This freeze on diplomatic relations should last until the US becomes a responsible member of the international community again rather than the ‘rogue state’ it has become under the Trump administration. The current ‘America First Policy’ puts the US outside the rest of the global community and makes a mockery of the international agreements they have signed and the global community as a whole. 

These are the main reasons we would like our government to put a temporary pause on relations:

Human rights abuses---------

 – Since Donald Trump's presidency, the United States has initiated numerous human rights violations including illegal deportations and indefinite detentions. The current government is creating an atmosphere of fear to the point that many countries such as our own are advising visitors not to travel there. At the same time the Trump administration is using the situation to enrich themselves and their friends, while at the same time pardoning criminals who support the regime. This is a country with whom we no longer share a common value set.

Climate denial and blatant disregard for earth’s fragile environment------

 At a time when the world is looking for leadership the Trump administration has declared climate change a hoax (perpetuating public climate denial) and has accelerated fossil fuel use while defunding and terrorising groups and individuals who are making an effort to reduce emissions and pollution.

 The administration has reneged on federal grants, fired workers en masse and attacked longstanding environmental regulations and institutions.

 This country should not be turning a blind eye to countries who do not respect the rule of law, threaten invasion of sovereign nations, and ride rough-shod over the environment as if climate change was not a serious existential threat to all life on this planet. 

We believe the New Zealand government needs to urgently distance this country from the US while they are aggressively putting their own interests above everybody else's and send a strong message that this country is completely committed to being part of the international community as a whole as well as standing up for both human rights and the environment we all share.

Addendum: Other reasons why we should distance ourselves during the current administration  --------

-(1)Human rights violations as evidenced and documented by Human Rights Watch and others. These anti-human rights actions include (but are not limited to); 

-Diminishing health, social and environmental protections impacting millions of people including children, older people with disabilities, immigrants and other vulnerable people; health and safety risks associated with the firing of over 10,000 people from Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (in the context of measles and influenza outbreaks as well as future possible epidemic concerns such as bird flu); health insurance coverage changes further marginalising poorer people; and housing assistance.

·Restrictions on reproductive freedoms

·Erosion oflLabour rights: Millions of workers are at greater risk of workplace injury, illness, and death after cutting staffing by two-thirds at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the agency primarily responsible for enforcing workplace safety standards. 

-Defunding Labour standards via the axing grants for programs to strengthen global standards around the use of  child labour, forced labour, and human trafficking. 

-Erosions of the rights of immigrants, who have been forced into rapid deportation procedures or “expedited removal.” limiting immigrants’ access to lawyers and judicial review, giving them almost no time to defend their cases. Ignoring Rules Against Return to Harm, the USA is without affording any due process, deported 137 Venezuelan nationals under the Alien Enemies Act, to El Salvador where they were incarcerated—arbitrarily, indefinitely, and incommunicado in a notorious prison in San Salvador. US citizens and others in the US whose relatives have been denied resettlement by the “Realigning the United States Refugee Admissions Program” executive order now have no realistic prospect of being united with their families. 

·Discrimination against women, LGBT people, and people of color. For example the US has terminated federal programs mandating accessibility, which are crucial for ensuring equal opportunity for many people with disabilities.

·Erosions of Law Enforcement Accountability. The US rescinded the national federal register of police officer misconduct and violence, designed to prevent police departments from rehiring abusive officers. US citizens convicted of crimes have been threatened by the US President Trump with human rights-violating incarceration in El Salvador’s prisons.

·Voting Rights have been imperilled by an executive order on elections, which seeks to impose new documentary requirements for voter registration, sets needlessly restrictive deadlines for mail-in ballots, and give intrusive authority to DOGE personnel to check voter registration “for consistency with federal requirements.” 

·Threats against free speech, the rights of assembly and access to information, which are all being eroded  by the USA’s cancellation of funding for the US non-profit civil society sector. The Associated Press was banned from White House briefings to punish news outlets for editorial decisions. Words and terms such as “equality” or “racism” have been banned from use by the US government agencies. Students in kindergarten and schools will have less access to accurate educational curricula due to an executive order threatening schools with loss of federal funds for mentioning racial or ethnic discrimination, or for recognition of gender identity.

·Attacks on the rule of Law - The US President and the executive branch have ensured that they are above the law with no Accountability or Transparency. The US administration publicly attacks, ridicules, and defies (even threatening impeachment of)  individual judges who issued adverse rulings in cases challenging administration actions. The administration has fired key Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties staff who have key roles in accountability for abuses by ICE and Customs and Border Protection. The administration has also fired Freedom of Information Act officers across government agencies.

 

·Attacks on democracy via the loss of access to crucial information to participate in democracy because of a Federal government data purge removing thousands of government webpages and datasets. Against public interest the US administration now reviews for approval all Federal Election Commission (FEC) and the Federal Communications opening the door for electoral fraud.

·Individual privacy rights are under attack as well. The DOGE has access to sensitive personal data held by dozens of government agencies, such as the Social Security Administration, Department of Education, and Treasury Department. 

·The USA has withdrawn from the World Health Organization which is important to prepare for, and respond to future pandemics.

·The USA continues to support of a genocidal Israeli war and has aligned  itself with non democratic states currently at war e.g  Russia.

·White supremacy is becoming more vocal and threatening since being emboldened by the current administration who are meeting and aligning themselves with ultra right wing groups and governments and parties intent on oppressing immigrants and decreasing the rights of women and minority groups.

- Outright displays of fascism, eg. Elon Musk giving the Nazi salute at the inauguration. Make no mistake. This sets a very very dangerous new precedent. 

These  are only some of the human rights abuses by the current US government and there is every indication that it is going to get worse. Just recently the US administration has arrested a country judge and deported a two year old US citizen. 

This is all in the context of a US president elected despite his multiple (88) legal convictions (including that of rape and inciting a riot) from which he has evaded consequences putting himself above the law. This same president attempted to overturn the 2020 election, culminating in the January 6th insurrection. Other charges include election interference in Georgia, falsifying business records in New York, and mishandling classified records after leaving the presidency.

 

(2) Environment and climate irresponsibility: 

-Highly related to the human rights issues discussed above is the irresponsible (to the point of absolute denial countering overwhelming evidence that the climate situation is worse than expected and will continue to worsen as we continue to use fossil fuels). In a few short weeks, President Trump has severely damaged the government’s ability to fight climate change, upending American environmental policy with moves that could have lasting implications for the country, and the planet. In a series of actions that have stretched the limits of presidential power, Mr. Trump has gutted federal climate efforts, rolled back regulations aimed at limiting pollution and given a major boost to the fossil fuel industry5,.

-On Inauguration Day, President Trump withdrew the United States from the Paris climate agreement, making it the only nation to do so. 

-The US has frozen funds appropriated by the US Congress for clean energy projects, taking particular aim at wind energy, the country’s largest source of renewable power.

-The US Administration is Fast-Tracking Hundreds of Fossil Fuel Projects. The United States is producing more oil than any other nation in history, and is also the world’s biggest exporter of natural gas. The fossil fuel industry donated more than $75 million to Mr. Trump’s presidential campaign and Mr. Trump, in turn, promised to weaken environmental regulations in ways that would lower its costs and increase its margins.

-Seabed mining in Pacific international waters. Pacific. Trump's executive order to exploit mineral resources in shared waters threatens to reverse decades of progress that have reduced overfishing and exploitation of one of the planet's last wild, healthy ocean ecosystems and a place of cultural significance for Pacific Islanders.