U.S. rejects U.N. migration forum declaration

May 12, 2026

Summary

State Department said the U.S. would not back a U.N. migration forum declaration and renewed its opposition to the global compact.

Why this matters

The move extends the Trump administration’s opposition to the U.N. migration compact and underscores a broader dispute over migration policy, sovereignty, and the role of international institutions.

The State Department said Monday that the United States would not support a declaration from the International Migration Review Forum, a U.N. meeting held May 5-8 at U.N. headquarters in New York.

The department said the U.S. did not participate in the forum, which is the main global platform for member states to review implementation of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration. According to the U.N. Network on Migration, the 2026 forum was scheduled to produce an intergovernmentally agreed “Progress Declaration.”

President Donald Trump ended U.S. participation in the U.N. process to develop the migration compact in 2017. The compact was adopted in 2018 after the U.S. withdrew from the process.

The U.N. and the International Organization for Migration have described the compact as a cooperative, non-legally binding framework to improve migration governance. A U.N.-hosted text of the compact says it respects states’ sovereign right to determine national migration policies and to distinguish between regular and irregular migration status. The declaration also says the compact upholds state sovereignty.

In its statement, the State Department said the U.N. was trying to “advocate and facilitate replacement immigration in the United States and across the broader West.” It also said, “President Trump is focused on the interests of Americans, not foreigners or globalist bureaucrats.”

In a thread on X, the department said U.N. agencies had “systematically facilitated mass migration into America and Europe,” and pointed to U.N. materials that call for expanding legal migration pathways and reference “regularization” of migrants. It also alleged that U.N. agencies, working with funded nongovernmental organizations, helped create a migration corridor through Central America to the U.S. border.

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During a House committee hearing in late April, Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., accused Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., of “stolen valor” and entered documents into the record to support her claims.

Mills denied the allegation, accused Mace of slander and defamation, and entered Army records that he said verified his awards.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz also faced scrutiny in 2024 after Kamala Harris selected him as her running mate. The claims centered on a 2018 video in which Walz said he carried weapons in war, despite never seeing active combat. The campaign later walked back the statement.

In Maryland, questions about Gov. Wes Moore’s military record have persisted since a 2022 report by Fox 45 in Baltimore highlighted discrepancies, including a Bronze Star medal listed on a 2006 White House fellowship application that was not included in his official military file.

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Spotlight on Maryland’s investigative team also reported gaps and delays in Moore’s military record.

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