Despite immigrants’ contributions to our communities and economy, our current immigration system still fails to provide a way for millions of immigrants to apply for legal status and citizenship. Instead, the system wastes billions of dollars on dangerous and unnecessary detention, frequently violates basic principles of fairness and due process, and fails to deliver on our legal and moral obligation to protect people fleeing persecution.

If elected, Vice President Kamala Harris has an opportunity to chart a new course. At the ACLU, we urge the Harris-Walz administration to champion policies that recognize the value of immigrants’ contributions to the United States, that humanely manage the border, that restore asylum and respect the rights of arriving immigrants, and that strengthen ways to lawfully come to this country.

Learn more in our breakdown.

The Facts: A Harris-Walz presidency must prioritize immigration reform that includes a path to citizenship and protection from deportation.

Specifically, we encourage a Harris administration to use its executive authority to protect longtime members of the immigrant community, including by issuing additional designations for Temporary Protected Status (TPS), and protecting parents and other caregivers from deportation. We will also urge Harris to work with Congress to prioritize reform efforts that will provide a pathway to citizenship and strengthen American families and communities.

To support meaningful asylum and border management reforms, Harris must go beyond “toughness” as the measure of policy. She will instead need to embrace and communicate the fact that a functional asylum system furthers our values and benefits American communities. Her administration will need to invest in solutions that restore and modernize the asylum system, ensure fairness for people seeking protection, and support the communities that receive new immigrants.

Why It Matters: Today, the vast majority of undocumented immigrants have lived in the United States for more than a decade, but under our current system they often cannot obtain legal status as there is no “line” for them to get into or “right way” to get citizenship. Right now, an estimated one in 10 American children live with someone who lacks legal status, including parents and siblings. These families live in fear of being broken apart through deportation. Many are at risk of deportation to countries they do not consider home — having left those countries as children — or where they would be unsafe due to conflict and crisis.

At the same time, global migration is at an all time high, yet people fleeing violence and persecution are left with few options to seek safety in the U.S. as the government has sought to restrict the legal right to seek asylum. These anti-asylum policies leave many vulnerable people in danger and do nothing to improve border management, our immigration court system, or coordination to receive our new neighbors.

How We Got Here: Throughout his presidency, Donald Trump aggressively attacked and undermined our nation’s asylum laws. Soon after Joe Biden’s inauguration, his administration restarted the refugee processing system, giving hope to many that the Trump era of scapegoating immigrants and dismantling our humanitarian protection system was over. However, the Biden administration never restored the asylum system. To the contrary, Biden initially elected to continue his predecessor’s unlawful “expulsion” policy. When it ended, he rolled out a new, extreme border restriction that largely mimicked two Trump-era policies, which courts had held as illegal.

In June 2024, the Biden administration doubled down on this approach with its illegal “Securing the Border” rule, further limiting access to protection for everyone at the border who is not able to obtain a rare port appointment to seek asylum. Adding to this, states like Texas have attempted to take enforcement of the federal immigration laws into their own hands, both at and beyond the border. Evidence has repeatedly demonstrated that state and local immigration enforcement leads to racial profiling and arbitrary detention — including of U.S. citizens — and terrorizes entire communities.

Our Roadmap: To start, the ACLU will urge a Harris-Walz administration to take aggressive executive action to dismantle the system of mass immigrant detention. Specifically, we are asking Harris to issue an executive order on immigrant detention that includes a moratorium on any new detention facilities, requires a review and closure of detention facilities with records of abuse, and phases private and contract detention centers. We will also encourage a Harris administration to exercise executive power to expand pathways for people inside and outside the United States — including our nation’s military veterans and people who have been wrongfully deported — to safely seek lawful status. The administration must also call for Congress to reduce funding for immigrant detention, and initiate a review of every person currently in immigration custody.

We will also work to persuade a Harris administration to restore access to asylum and end the Biden administration’s anti-asylum policies in favor of a balanced strategy that recognizes and protects the right to asylum while improving border management. Should a Harris-Walz administration adopt the Biden administration’s illegal anti-asylum policies, we will continue our legal fights against them.

We will also challenge state laws that target immigrant communities for harassment, racial profiling, arrest, banishment, or removal. We will urge the Harris-Walz administration to end the federal government’s collaboration with state and local anti-immigrant programs that violate civil rights, and to protect all communities from abusive, politically-motivated policies. Lastly, as we have done time and again, we will mobilize our members to elevate the will of the American people to take a balanced approach to immigration and for the U.S. to live up to its values.

What Our Experts Say: “A Harris administration could provide a critical opportunity to ensure a balanced and humane approach to U.S. immigration policy that recognizes the contributions of immigrants to our communities. Poll after poll, including research from the ACLU, shows that Americans support fair, orderly, and efficient policies that improve border management while offering a pathway to citizenship for our longtime neighbors – and a Harris administration should deliver on the will of the American people.” — Maribel Hernández Rivera, director of policy and government affairs for border and immigration at the ACLU

“If elected, a Kamala Harris administration has an opportunity to chart a new course on U.S. immigration policy and ensure a pathway to citizenship for longtime residents, while doing the critical work to restore our nation’s asylum system. As we have under every administration in the last two decades, we will continue to challenge the government when it violates the constitution and laws, as with prolonged immigration detention, detention of people in abusive conditions of confinement, anti-asylum bans, and immigration proceedings that violate due process and basic standards of fairness.” – Omar Jadwat, director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project

What You Can Do Today: Even as the number of deaths in ICE custody has risen dramatically, the Biden administration is actively attempting to expand the detention system with new contracts to private prison companies despite persistent records of abuse and medical negligence. Tell the Biden administration to release medically vulnerable people from ICE detention and shut down the mass detention machine once and for all.

In a moment when hostile state legislators have used unlawful redistricting efforts and discriminatory voting laws to attack our electoral systems, Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris has committed to protecting our democracy.

On the campaign trail, Harris has promised to push for passage of essential federal voting rights protections, including the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act (JLVRAA), the Freedom to Vote Act (FTVA), and the Native American Voting Rights Act (NAVRA). If elected, Harris has the opportunity to build on the Biden-Harris administration’s record of championing measures that increase voting access. The ACLU is determined to hold a Harris-Walz administration accountable for promoting fair representation, preventing discriminatory voting laws, and strengthening our democracy for years to come.

Learn more in our breakdown.

The Facts: A Harris-Walz administration must advocate for federal legislation to protect voting rights, specifically passage of the JLVRAA, the NAVRA and provisions of the FTVA. The JLVRAA would restore the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965 to its fullest strength and undo the harm created by Shelby County v. Holder, in which the Supreme Court struck down the VRA’s core “preclearance” requirement that mandated jurisdictions with long records of racially-discriminatory voting practices seek federal approval before altering their voting laws and practices. The FTVA, if passed, would establish essential voting-access provisions that make it easier for everyone to register and cast their ballots; help safeguard against partisan and racial gerrymandering; increase protections for marginalized voters like those with disabilities and those with prior felony convictions; and establish other much-needed national standards for federal elections. Lastly, the NAVRA is essential to protect Indigenous communities from discriminatory voting practices and address the unique barriers to voting that Native people face.

While the passage of such federal legislation ultimately depends on Congress, if elected Harris is responsible for demanding that Congress act swiftly and boldly. A Harris presidency must also continue to robustly implement Executive Order 14019 on Promoting Access to Voting, which encourages federal agencies to provide nonpartisan voter registration opportunities for all eligible citizens. While the Biden-Harris administration has made laudable strides in implementing this executive order, a Harris-Walz administration must push the federal government to move even quicker to enforce the order’s provisions to the fullest.

In addition, a Harris-Walz administration must advocate for a useful, accurate, and fair census in 2030. This census will determine the allocation of seats in Congress as well as the distribution of billions in public funding until 204o. A Harris-Walz administration should ensure that the Census Bureau is equipped with the tools and resources needed to execute a successful count in 2030, and protected from efforts to manipulate the census.

Why It Matters: The right to vote is the very foundation of our democracy. We are counting on a Harris presidency to build on the Biden-Harris administration’s efforts to protect and expand voting access, ensure an accurate census, and shore up faith in and the strength of our democracy. The presidency’s influence can reinvigorate the effort to restore and fortify federal voting rights legislation that will protect the right to vote for years. A Harris-Walz administration can also demonstrate how every level of government can act now to increase access to voter registration and education.

How We Got Here: For years, pro-voting rights work has been stymied by a divided Congress or has been thwarted by partisan efforts to manipulate electoral systems to disenfranchise entire populations of voters, particularly voters of color.

As vice president, Harris has been the face of the Biden-Harris administration’s efforts to expand voting rights, including launching new efforts across federal agencies to offer nonpartisan voter registration opportunities. Harris has also championed efforts to advance critical voting legislation that has been repeatedly introduced across multiple congressional sessions, including the JLVRAA, the NAVRA, and the FTVA.

Our Roadmap: After Donald Trump pushed the “Big Lie“ that the 2020 election was fraudulent, a wave of state-based voter suppression bills were introduced in response to victories by candidates who support civil rights and civil liberties, and who were elected by diverse constituencies. The ACLU challenged many of these laws and, today, we stand ready to go back to court to take on new suppressive laws, policies, and practices that could follow a Harris win. In addition to filing our own lawsuits, we will call on the Department of Justice under a Harris-Walz administration to enforce federal statutory protections of the right to vote to the fullest.

Additionally, the ACLU will work with our partners to pass critical voting rights legislation. Under a Harris presidency, we will continue to testify in support of the JLVRAA, lobby and brief Congress members about the bill’s importance, and educate constituencies on the bill’s impact on voters of color. So that the JLVRAA and other critical voting rights legislation are not blocked in the Senate, the ACLU will double down on its coordinated effort to reform the filibuster.

Lastly, during a potential Harris presidency, the ACLU will continue pressing state and local officials to leverage every available tool to increase access to voting, including by expanding same-day registration, automatic voter registration, and early and mail voting. If elected, Harris must continue efforts to end the denial of equal representation to Washington D.C. residents, and correct the longstanding voting rights injustices people living in U.S. territories face. Finally, as we have in the past, we will engage our organizers and members in a public education campaign on the impact of the census in everyday life and the importance of counting every person, laying the groundwork for the most accurate census in 2030.

What Our Experts Say: “Expanding voting rights is crucial to ensuring every citizen's voice is heard in our democracy. Vice President Harris has promised to address long-standing challenges and enhance access to the ballot for all eligible voters. If she is elected, we will use every tool at our disposal, including litigation, to hold her to these commitments and protect and advance voting rights and fair representation at every level of government.” — Sophia Lin Lakin, director of the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project

What You Can Do Today: As the election approaches, discriminatory election practices continue to impact voters of color, highlighted by a surge in anti-voter measures in recent years. The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act is a crucial step towards ensuring fair and inclusive elections. Add your name to our petition urging Congress to support this vital legislation.

For the past four years, the Biden-Harris administration has made LGBTQ rights a cornerstone of its policy agenda. Among other efforts, the Biden-Harris administration has consistently sued states to block anti-trans laws and policies, including asking the Supreme Court to lift bans on medically-necessary health care for trans adolescents.

While there remains work to be done to protect the LGBTQ community, we have seen significant progress under the Biden-Harris administration in undoing the anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ policies of Donald Trump’s administration. Given this strong record, should Harris win in November, we’re calling on her administration to continue to ensure that the rights and freedoms of LGBTQ people are protected and prioritized across the federal government.

Learn more in our breakdown.

The Facts: Given the significantly anti-trans policy environment that has emerged over the past four years, the ACLU would push a future Harris administration to build on the foundation established during Joe Biden’s presidency by using the power of the federal government to protect LGBTQ people from harm in as many ways as possible.

The Biden-Harris administration ordered federal agencies to protect LGBTQ people against discrimination by ensuring that the Supreme Court’s historic decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, in which the court held that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects employees against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, applied in the contexts of not just employment, but housing, health care, and credit lending. The administration also reopened the military to transgender service members, reversing the Trump administration’s ban. Additionally, the administration expanded access to gender-affirming health care through government healthcare programs, including in federal prisons, and expanded access to accurate gender markers on federal government identification documents, such as passports.

While a pro-equality president can do a lot to protect the rights and freedoms of LGBTQ people, they cannot achieve the long-sought goal of comprehensive federal protections on their own. From the earliest days of her service in the Senate, Harris consistently made clear her support for the Equality Act — legislation to provide LGBTQ people with explicit, comprehensive protection against discrimination – and, as vice president, has consistently urged Congress to pass the legislation. However, if Harris is elected and faced with a divided Congress, similar to what we have now, it will be essential for the Harris-Walz administration to remain vigilant against efforts to put anti-LGBTQ measures, including those banning access to gender-affirming care, in must-pass legislation, such as bills that fund the federal government.

Why It Matters: In addition to Trump-era policies that sought to actively disenfranchise LGBTQ people, without federal-level protections, the LGBTQ community continues to face discrimination in nearly every aspect of daily life.

In the last two years, states have considered 1,197 anti-transgender bills. Of those, 129 have been passed into law. Anti-trans or anti-LGBTQ laws restrict access to needed health care for adults and children, deny individuals the right to live freely and safely as they are, and hinder the ability to simply exist free from discrimination.

How We Got Here: From its first day in office, the Biden-Harris administration set about undoing many of the Trump administration’s regressive anti-LGBTQ federal policies and enhancing federal protections.

However, when a new presidential administration takes office in January 2025, the LGBTQ community will still be confronting a dismal policy landscape in about half the country where trans adolescents — and increasingly trans adults — face unlawful discrimination. In many states, trans people cannot access gender-affirming medical care; are unable to use restrooms in schools and other government buildings; find that updating gender markers on identity documents is challenging or impossible; and cannot fully participate in society as their authentic selves.

Our Roadmap: To help a future Harris-Walz administration pass comprehensive federal nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ people, we will continue to push Congress to reform the Senate filibuster and pass pro-equality legislation, like the Equality Act. The Biden-Harris administration has championed the Equality Act, but a vocal anti-LGBTQ minority has used the filibuster to delay its passage through Congress. The ACLU is prepared to use public pressure — including aggressive lobbying and grassroots mobilization — to compel Congress to finally act.

While the passage of explicit, comprehensive legislation protecting LGBTQ people from discrimination is the ACLU’s top LGBTQ priority in Congress, there are many other actions that a Harris-Walz administration should take to safeguard the rights of LGBTQ people. For example, one of the most significant and powerful ways for a Harris-Walz administration to support the needs of trans people is to issue an executive order on day one directing federal agencies to examine ways that they can affirmatively enhance access to gender-affirming care in federally funded programs. An executive order like this would provide clear direction to federal agencies, and do so in a way that will serve the goal of comprehensively addressing this issue.

Additionally, we expect Harris to work with the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division to use litigation to protect trans people across the country from discriminatory state laws. The ACLU will continue this work in communities across the country by engaging our activists to join the fight for LGBTQ equality in their home states.

What Our Experts Say: “The Biden-Harris administration has a strong record of protecting and expanding the freedom of LGBTQ people at a time when those freedoms have faced an unprecedented assault. With further attacks on our rights and a landmark Supreme Court case on the horizon, we would encourage a Harris-Walz administration to continue this commitment and do everything in their power to protect our rights, our health care, and our freedom to be ourselves without fear.” — James Esseks, co-director of the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Project

What You Can Do Today: Recently, dangerous and discriminatory efforts to strip trans people of their rights, including efforts to use the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to limit care for trans servicemembers, have only increased. These tactics affect everyone. Write to your Congress member today to stop this assault on our freedom and on our lives.

The Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade set off a wave of new attacks on abortion, causing a catastrophic public health crisis and rapidly eroding our civil liberties and reproductive freedom. So far, 14 states have banned abortion completely, and others have severely limited access to abortion by criminalizing it after the earliest weeks of pregnancy.

Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic party’s nominee, has already indicated her support for abortion access and other forms of reproductive health care. At one of her first campaign events, she stated that if Congress “passes a law to restore reproductive freedom, as president of the United States I will sign it into law.”

The ACLU promises to hold Harris accountable for keeping this campaign promise if she is elected in November. Learn more in our breakdown:

The Facts: The Biden-Harris administration made abortion rights and reproductive health a priority during their four years in office. But anti-abortion politicians have had control of at least one body of Congress ever since Roe was overturned, preventing meaningful congressional action on abortion. Enacting federal legislation to protect the right to abortion throughout the country is a crucial and desperately needed step to rectify the harms of overturning Roe.

To be clear, abortion care was not accessible for far too many even before the end of Roe. If elected, Harris must carry out her promise to restore reproductive freedom by taking bold action to ensure that everyone can get an abortion if they need one, no matter who they are, where they live, or how much money they have. She must not only demand legislation that codifies abortion rights and invalidates state bans and restrictions, but that also ends discriminatory barriers to abortion care, such as insurance coverage bans like the Hyde Amendment.

Why It Matters: Right now, millions of people of reproductive age live hundreds of miles from the closest abortion provider. In 2023 alone, more than 171,000 people were forced to travel outside of their home state to secure abortion access. As a result of abortion bans and other restrictions, countless people are being forced to continue their pregnancies against their will. Some states have gone so far as to criminalize the provision of abortion care in medical emergencies where the inability to get an abortion puts the pregnant person’s health, life, and future fertility in danger.

In the two years since Roe was overturned, however, there has been a groundswell of public support for abortion rights and rising opposition against bans and restrictions on abortion care. People in states across the country — including Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wisconsin — have repeatedly demonstrated their support for reproductive health care access since Roe was overturned.

How We Got Here: Making good on his campaign promise to end Roe, President Donald Trump appointed three Supreme Court justices who were part of the majority opinion that overturned the 50-year-old decision and took away the constitutional right to abortion. Since then, extreme politicians have increased their attacks on our reproductive freedom, enforcing bans that push care out of reach entirely in 14 states and attempting to use junk science to take an abortion pill off the shelves nationwide. These politicians even threatened to put doctors in prison for providing emergency abortion care to pregnant patients facing complications.

Our Roadmap: As a presidential candidate in 2020, Harris committed to working with Congress to pass a federal bill to codify abortion rights. She also promised to end the Hyde Amendment, which places restrictions on Medicaid coverage for abortion and has forced one in four low-income women seeking an abortions to carry an unwanted pregnancy to term. The Biden-Harris administration took steps to remove this harmful restriction and, if Harris is elected, the ACLU will urge her administration to build on past progress to fulfill her campaign commitments.

In addition to ending the Hyde Amendment and protecting abortion access, the threat of misusing the Comstock Act as a national abortion ban must be eliminated. The Comstock Act is an 1873 anti-obscenity law that regulates the use of the mail and common carriers to send or receive anything that is “indecent, filthy, or vile” or “intended for producing abortion.” Trump’s advisors are threatening to misapply this law, claiming incorrectly that the Comstock Act functions as a national abortion ban. To ensure that no future anti-abortion president can weaponize this antiquated law, Harris must urge Congress to repeal it. The ACLU has already asked lawmakers to introduce the Stop Comstock Act, and we will demand that any legislation codifying abortion rights also repeals the Act.

Additionally, we urge a potential Harris administration to robustly defend pregnant people’s rights and ensure all hospitals satisfy their obligations under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), which requires hospitals that receive Medicare funds to provide emergency stabilizing treatment, including abortion, to any patient who needs it. The ACLU will continue to work in the courts and with coalition partners to defend emergency abortion care, including urging Congress to swiftly respond in the event of a Supreme Court decision that eliminates these protections.

Lastly, while the Biden-Harris administration made steps toward expanding reproductive health care and contraception access, it must go further. If Harris is elected, the ACLU will work with her administration to urge Congress to make needed investments in Title X, a federally-funded family planning program that helps low-income people obtain critical health care services for free or at a reduced cost.

What Our Experts Say: “If Vice President Kamala Harris wins the election this year, it will be because she prioritized reproductive freedom as a central tenet of her campaign, but that promise must be met with bold and urgent action. Harris has the opportunity to ensure that Congress enacts federal protections for abortion that reflect the American public's overwhelming support for reproductive freedom. That means demanding Congress send her a bill to sign that ensures everyone who needs abortion care can access it.” — Madison Roberts, ACLU senior policy counsel for reproductive freedom.

What You Can Do Today: Since Roe was overturned, abortion bans have gone into effect in states across the country. Today, anti-abortion extremists continue to attack medication abortion and emergency abortion care. It’s past time to make a change. Join our campaign to urge your congress members to pass federal legislation that safeguards our reproductive freedom.

This piece was published before Joe Biden withdrew from the 2024 presidential election and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to represent the Democratic Party. No significant facts have been changed or added.

Donald Trump has long identified himself as the candidate of “law and order” but, during the Trump administration, “law and order” translated to a severe approach to criminal punishment and policing that failed to make us safer.

Today, his proposed policies for a second term promise to double down on these ineffective tough on crime tactics. If reelected, a second administration threatens to accelerate mass incarceration and roll back decades of progress by encouraging aggressive policing practices, enacting draconian sentencing regimes, and expanding the use of the death penalty.

At the ACLU, we won’t let our country go backward. If Trump returns to office, we’re prepared to meet these unconstitutional policies with the same fierce response as we did during the last Trump administration. Learn more about our roadmap in our breakdown.

The Facts: According to Trump’s campaign, “there is no higher priority than quickly restoring law and order and public safety in America.” But, just as it was during President Richard Nixon’s 1968 campaign against the war on drugs, “law and order” under a second Trump administration is a “shorthand message promising repression of the Black community.”

Specifically, Trump’s law enforcement policies call for further protections for abusive police, including condoning the use of force against protesters, which he once described as a “beautiful thing to watch.” This rhetoric risks encouraging state actors to take a similarly brutal approach. Beyond rhetoric, however, Trump is also likely to immediately rescind President Joe Biden’s 2022 executive order on policing. Doing so would eviscerate one of the most substantial federal actions on police reform since George Floyd’s murder and roll back important changes to use of force standards, including restrictions on chokeholds and carotid restraints. These expected policies will have an outsized impact on marginalized communities, especially the Black community, which is far more likely to experience police abuse. We also know that a second Trump administration intends to deputize local law enforcement to aid an unprecedented mass deportation effort that would decimate communities.

Additionally, Trump has promised that, if reelected, his administration will accelerate mass incarceration efforts by directing federal prosecutors to seek the most serious charges and maximum sentences, pressuring local prosecutors to take a similarly draconian approach, and re-incarcerating thousands of people on home confinement. His administration will also expand the use of the death penalty – despite Americans’ increasing opposition to capital punishment – by broadening the category of crimes punishable by death, sentencing more people to die, and killing every person on federal death row.

While Trump will have a singular impact on the federal system, ultimately, state and local governments control most of the substantive parts of state criminal legal systems, including policing, prosecution, sentencing, and conditions in prisons and jails. Today, there are over 1.6 million people in state and local jails and prisons, compared to just over 200,000 in federal jails and prisons. But even without direct control of state systems, Trump will play an important role in setting the tone for state policies and many of his plans will have a ripple effect across the country.

Why It Matters: The Trump administration has already shown its capacity for brutal criminal legal system policies. In its final year, for example, the Trump Administration executed 13 people, more than half of whom were people of color. Trump executed more people than any administration in 120 years. Trump’s embrace of capital punishment is longstanding. In the 1980s, as a private citizen, he paid $85,000 from his own funds to publish a page-wide advertisement calling for the execution of five Black and Latine boys wrongfully accused as the “Central Park Five.”

But the impact of a second Trump administration doesn’t limit itself to any single area of the criminal legal system. He has proposed punitive policies that promise to dehumanize individuals at every point in the carceral system – from traffic stops to confinement conditions to sentencing. This tough on crime approach is also ineffective. Creating safe and healthy communities requires investing in programs that address the root causes of crime and disorder, like after-school programs, alternatives to policing, violence intervention teams, substance abuse treatment, employment pipelines, and affordable housing.

How We Got Here: During Trump’s time in office, he threatened to bring the National Guard into major cities to quell violence, and risk dangerously escalating tensions and exposing peaceful protestors to excessive or deadly force. He also encouraged the militarization of the police by rescinding President Barack Obama’s executive order limiting the distribution of military-grade weapons to state, local, and federal law enforcement agencies.

Trump and his administration were so committed to ineffective tough on crime policies that they even, at times, reversed their own progress on criminal legal system reform. In 2018, the ACLU worked with the Trump administration to secure the bipartisan First Step Act that then-President Trump signed into law. The First Step Act was significant legislation intended to improve federal prison conditions, reform overly harsh federal sentencing provisions, and provide increased programing and re-entry transition services to people incarcerated in federal prisons. Despite the promise of the Act, many of its key reforms were later undermined by the Trump administration.

Trump’s time in office also underscored the need to continue to hold his administration accountable for its unlawful actions. From 2017-2021, the ACLU filed more than 430 legal actions against the administration, including lawsuits aimed at defending the right to protest against police brutality, protecting the health and humanity of incarcerated people during the Covid-19 pandemic, and stopping mass surveillance by law enforcement.

Our Roadmap: If Trump returns to office, he can expect that he will be met with the same fierce response the ACLU brought during his last administration.

Specifically, we will use the courts to halt the Trump administration’s attempt to carry out one of, if not the largest, carceral events in our nation’s history: the senseless return to prison of nearly 3,000 individuals released on federal home confinement during the pandemic. Additionally, we will use litigation to challenge any efforts to return to unconstitutional methods of execution, and expose the racism and cruelty inherent in the death penalty, as we continue to seek its total abolition.

The ACLU will also advocate for Congress to constrain the funneling of military equipment to local police, fight for legislation to end sentencing disparities, and, under any administration, continue to push for the full implementation of the First Step Act. Importantly, we’ll use our expertise and resources to advise and assist members of Congress on how to prevent a future Trump administration from manipulating our legal system.

Lastly, since much of the American criminal legal system takes place at the state and local level, our state-level work will be more critical than ever with Trump in office. The ACLU and our affiliates will continue efforts to reduce opportunities for violent encounters with police, including by advocating for state use-of-force standards and the deprioritization of non-safety related traffic stops.

What Our Experts Say: “Trump has told us what he wants to do with a second term: fuel mass incarceration, encourage law enforcement to engage in unconstitutional policing practices, and expand the death penalty. We know from this country’s history that these extreme and immoral policies harm communities and infringe upon our rights and humanity. The ACLU is prepared to meet the Trump administration with the same fierce response as we did during his last term in office should he be reelected.” – Yasmin Cader, director of the ACLU’s Trone Center for Justice and Equality

What You Can Do Today: Congress can take action immediately to reduce disparities in our criminal legal system — starting by ending extreme sentencing. Send a message urging them to act today.

The Supreme Court’s decision in Trump v. United States means that any president can now use their official powers to commit crimes under the assumption they are now presumptively immune. A future president could turn the armed forces against their opponents, turn government agencies against their critics, or reenact some of America’s worst mistakes.

No president ever – from the founding of the country to now – has ever had this sort of power and protection. Until now. How much do you know about the history of rejecting Kings?

Take our quick quiz below and see if you can get a perfect score.

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This piece was published before Joe Biden withdrew from the 2024 presidential election and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to represent the Democratic Party. No significant facts have been changed or added.

Donald Trump’s four years in office were marked by gross abuses of executive power, including efforts to trample protest and dissent — key freedoms at the heart of our participatory democracy.

He deployed federal agents and surveillance to silence Black Lives Matter protesters or anyone he deemed to oppose his policies, threatened to use his power as president to punish his political enemies, and attacked journalists who criticized him. If elected to a second term, we expect the Trump administration to double down on attempts to further limit our First Amendment rights and use the power of the federal government to attack political rivals, stifle dissent, and undermine checks and balances on presidential power.

For more than 100 years, the ACLU has defended our most fundamental rights and freedoms — including our right to express ourselves free from government interference. We won’t stop now. If Trump is reelected, we’re prepared to use the courts, Congress, state and local power, and our organizing muscle to challenge unlawful attempts to surveil Americans, suppress speech, and undermine democracy. Learn more in our breakdown:

The Facts: In 2020, the Trump administration threatened to use force to quell protests, and actually did deploy federal agents and National Guard troops who arrested and used excessive force against protestors and journalists. If Trump secures a second term, this abuse of power is likely to recur and even escalate. Trump has already indicated that his administration would consider invoking the Insurrection Act to deploy the military to America’s cities — potentially targeting those with large BIPOC and immigrant communities — to suppress the right to protest. Trump has also indicated that his administration would attack online free expression by forcing media companies and online platforms to carry conservatives’ preferred speech.

As president, with federal law enforcement agencies under his control, Trump could carry out attacks on advocacy organizations and individuals he opposes. Indeed, on the campaign trail, Trump has praised violent crackdowns on campus protests, aligning with his previous attacks on academic freedom. In particular, he has threatened to deport student protestors who are not U.S. citizens, merging his attacks on free speech with his attacks on immigration. We also expect Trump to use his authority to further target media members and the freedom of the press to suppress negative stories about him or his administration.

Furthermore, Project 2025 has made clear that a second Trump administration intends to dismantle the already insufficient guardrails that prevent the president from abusing the executive branch’s power. The Supreme Court already removed one such guardrail in Trump v. United States, ruling that the president cannot be criminally prosecuted for “official acts,” including using the Justice Department for his personal and political bidding. Trump can use a politicized Justice Department and the vast array of federal agencies to attack voters, protestors, journalists, abortion care providers and patients, his political opponents and any others he perceives as “enemies.” Even now, Trump allies in Congress are trying to use their investigative tools to chill free speech, including targeting civil society organizations and activists engaged in protected advocacy, such as opposing the war in Gaza or supporting LGBTQ rights.

The dangers of the federal government targeting its opponents and vulnerable populations are multiplied by mass surveillance mechanisms that the ACLU has long fought to constrain. A second Trump administration could leverage surveillance programs such as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which authorizes the collection of communications between U.S. persons and people outside the United States, and which Congress has dangerously expanded to allow the government to search Americans’ private communications and information without a warrant and without notice.

Why It Matters: By punishing political enemies and stifling protest and dissent, a second Trump administration would break many of the checks and balances on the executive branch, and undermine the foundations of a functioning democracy.  A second Trump administration will also pose a threat to our historic American tradition of robust, open political competition marked by spirited dissent and the foundational notion that the people have the final say.

How We Got Here: Early in his presidency, Trump sent National Guard troops to stop Black Lives Matter protesters in Washington, D.C., threatened to deploy the military more broadly to quell protests in other U.S. cities, and sent federal law enforcement agents around the country to break up protests by force, including arresting protestors and journalists.

Trump has also already shown how he will target his perceived enemies, whether they be political rivals, media members, or everyday citizens. He's promised prosecution or harm towards President Biden and Biden administration officials, poll workers, former military generals, former officials in his own administration who fell out of favor, protesters, journalists, migrant or immigrant communities, and many others.

Additionally, when it comes to surveilling Americans, there is already a history of law enforcement and intelligence agencies’ abuse of surveillance programs that give the government the right to collect private information from American citizens. It is all too easy to foresee a second Trump administration using these overbroad and dangerous spying powers to surveil and discriminate against political opponents and people and communities already in its crosshairs. Protesters, communities of color, immigrants, and people seeking abortions or gender-affirming care all face even greater risks to their privacy and rights.

Our Roadmap: The ACLU will always rise to defend protesters, journalists, and others who are subjected to abusive criminal prosecutions or other punitive actions from the government. To combat a second Trump administration’s intention to trample historical checks and balances, and the apparent willingness of many within and outside of government to help, we will work with allies to urge the American people to exercise their First Amendment rights — like the right to protest — so that Trump’s excesses are met with the direct power of the people. And, if a second Trump administration does misuse executive authority, the ACLU will go to court to stop efforts to breach Americans’ privacy, discriminate based on race or ethnicity, or retaliate against dissenters or seek to silence them.

Should a Trump administration again deploy the military and federal agents to quell peaceful protests and interfere with journalists reporting on protests, the ACLU and its affiliates network will be on the ground fighting to protect our rights. As we did during Trump’s first presidency, we will bring lawsuits on behalf of protesters and the media addressing any speech or due process-related violations as outlined in the First and Fourth Amendments.

Importantly, we will urge state and local leaders who value civil liberties to lead efforts to resist abuses of federal executive power and limit the reach of the federal government’s power within their jurisdictions. For instance, states can limit — or eliminate — cooperation agreements between state and local law enforcement and federal law enforcement to minimize the grounds federal authorities can intervene in protests. They can also prevent voluntary data sharing that could be used for federal surveillance purposes or to support politically motivated investigations and prosecutions.

The ACLU also works with a bipartisan coalition of civil libertarians on Capitol Hill who recognize the danger of overly broad executive power. To protect our free press, we’re already working to urge Congress to enact the Protect Reporters from Exploitative State Spying Act (PRESS Act), which would prevent the federal government from compelling journalists to reveal their sources and work product. We’re also calling on our elected leaders to install stronger guardrails against political influence over the Justice Department. Lastly, we’re pushing policymakers to limit government surveillance and protect Americans’ private communications from unlawful collection by passing the Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act.

What Our Experts Say: “Donald Trump has made no secret of his disregard for the rule of law and his intent to corrupt the immense powers of the federal government to target his opponents and break the institutions that could pose checks and balances to presidential power. In a second term, unleashed and feeling invulnerable from legal and political repercussions, he would pose an unprecedented challenge to our constitutional values. But the ACLU is ready.” — Mike Zamore, national director of policy and government affairs

“The ACLU has always worked to stop the executive branch from abusing its power at the expense of individual freedom and vulnerable communities. The Trump presidency, with its false declarations of national emergencies in service of discrimination and total disregard for the rule of law, demonstrated what we’ve always known – that relying on unwritten norms for presidential behavior is grossly insufficient. If there is a second Trump administration, we are prepared to defend people it attacks, including protestors, dissenters, and journalists.” — Cecillia Wang, deputy legal director of the ACLU

What You Can Do Today: The ACLU has long advocated for robust legislation that safeguards against all kinds of government overreach, including the unlawful warrantless surveillance of our private communications. Show your support by calling your representative to support the Fourth Amendment is Not for Sale Act now.

This piece was published before Joe Biden withdrew from the 2024 presidential election and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to represent the Democratic Party. No significant facts have been changed or added.

Donald Trump’s claim that the 2020 election was “stolen” from him is not only a lie—no widespread voter fraud was detected in that election—it’s a lie that breeds public mistrust in our electoral system. Today, he is already casting doubt on the 2024 election, saying he will accept the results “if everything is honest.” The implication is that if Trump loses then the election may not have been honest, and that a free and fair election this November is only one in which he wins.

A second Trump administration will likely perpetuate policies that undermine our electoral systems. As outlined in Project 2025 policies, evidenced on the campaign trail and in interviews, if Trump is reelected, his administration will likely attempt to manipulate the 2030 census to deny representation and federal resources to millions; abuse executive power to suppress voting and interfere with elections; and roll back federal progress on voting access.

In a country that has a long history of voter suppression and continues to struggle with voter turnout, four years of constant attacks on our voting rights risks long-term, pervasive harm. At the ACLU, we’re fighting back. We defeated the Trump administration’s efforts to manipulate our electoral process before, and we’ll use every tool at our disposal to do so again. Learn more in our breakdown:

The Facts: During a second term, not only would Trump seek to intimidate and disenfranchise marginalized voters, he would lay the groundwork to further question election outcomes that are adverse to him and his allies. Trump is likely to deploy the Department of Justice (DOJ) and other federal agencies to launch bad-faith investigations into voters and election officials, including against those he believes “rigged” the 2020 election. A second Trump administration is also likely to make good on earlier promises to send federal law enforcement to voting locations—a move that would serve just one purpose: to suppress voter turnout by intimidating voters.

Importantly, a second Trump administration would likely attempt to manipulate the 2030 census by adding a citizenship question. Census population counts impact apportionment of representatives, funding, and other resource allocation. Additionally, the Trump administration would also seek to reverse nonpartisan federal efforts to promote and expand access to voting, particularly for marginalized communities. That includes rescinding Executive Order 14019, which focuses on increasing language access, mitigating barriers for individuals with disabilities, and increasing voter education and registration opportunities under the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA).

Why It Matters: A second Trump administration’s efforts to undermine the right to vote will have consequences far beyond the 2024 election. Since the census is conducted every 10 years, manipulation of the census and apportionment will deny millions of voters equal representation and fair resource allocation for at least a decade. Trump’s likely plan to add a citizenship question to exclude noncitizens from apportionment would result in significant undercounting of historically vulnerable or underrepresented populations, specifically Latine and Asian communities and those living in urban areas, which would have reverberating negative impacts on district maps and allocation of funding.

Furthermore, Trump has stated that whether the upcoming election may be challenged is subject to the “fairness of the election” and whether he wins. This rhetoric yet again demonstrates a willingness to potentially abuse executive powers.

How We Got Here: Trump has consistently attempted to manipulate the census to carry out his agenda. Between 2018 and 2020, the ACLU successfully fought off two such attempts. In 2019, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of ACLU-represented plaintiffs, blocking the first Trump administration’s attempt to add a citizenship question to the census. That question would have caused diverse communities in places like California, Illinois, and New York to lose representation and cut their allotted share of billions of dollars in federal funding. In 2020, we sued again to stop the Trump administration from excluding undocumented immigrants from the figures used to apportion seats in Congress. Our lawsuit caused enough delay that the efforts could not be enacted before President Joe Biden took office and rescinded the policy.

Our Roadmap: Should a second Trump administration take office, we are ready to go to court to block efforts to undermine our electoral process. If a second Trump administration uses the president’s authority to empower his allies to perpetuate the false narrative of illegal voting or gathering information that can be weaponized against voters, we’ll pursue litigation to expose the lies. If Trump attempts to solidify his anti-voters efforts by deploying federal law enforcement officers, the National Guard, or other military personnel to intimidate voters or election workers, we’ll again use the courts to protect our right to vote.

We know that Trump’s efforts to remove noncitizens from the census count is blatantly unlawful. Under the Fourteenth Amendment, representatives in Congress are apportioned based on the “whole number of persons in each State.” If Trump attempts to bypass the requirement that all persons be included in the count by purposefully depressing response rates by adding a citizenship question, or by wholly removing noncitizens from the tabulation, we’ll see him in court.

The courts alone, however, won’t be enough. The grave threats that a second Trump presidency poses to democracy demand robust defensive and proactive responses from Congress. Our expert lobbyists will brief lawmakers on the detrimental impact that an inaccurate census count would have on their home state and urge them to act as a barrier against attempts to incorporate a citizenship question or otherwise politicize the census count. The ACLU will also work with Congress to advance legislation essential to protect our democracy, including the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act (JLVRAA), which restores and strengthens the Voting Rights Act (VRA) to prevent racial discrimination in voting, as well as core provisions of the Freedom to Vote Act (FVA), which increases access to the ballot.

We’ll also use our political power and presence in all 50 states to demand that state and local officials implement policies to protect and strengthen voting rights. We will fight to ensure that states provide local election officials with ample and consistent funding every appropriations cycle for updated equipment, election worker training, messaging campaigns to counter mis/disinformation, and measures to ensure election worker security. Finally, we will advocate for states to enact policies barring state and local law enforcement agencies from cooperating with federal law enforcement in any Trump-directed effort to intimidate voters through their presence at or near polling or ballot return locations.

What Our Experts Say: “A second Trump term would be catastrophic for every aspect of our elections: from who is counted when it comes to allocating our political power and billions in federal funds, to who is able to cast a ballot, to whether our election administrators can perform their jobs and voters can have their voices heard free from intimidation. He has promised to end our democratic processes, but we are prepared to fight in the courts, the streets, and the halls of Congress to defend our democracy and protect our right to vote.” — Sophia Lin Lakin, director of the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project

What You Can Do Today: We stand ready to fight back against Trump's attempts to limit the right to vote, but we can't do it without you. Join us as we grow our movement of democracy defenders.

This piece was published before Joe Biden withdrew from the 2024 presidential election and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to represent the Democratic Party. No significant facts have been changed or added.

When Donald Trump’s administration ended in 2020, two-thirds of Americans believed that Trump had increased racial tensions in the U.S. The Trump administration's sustained assault on political, civic, and legal efforts to promote racial justice and the administration’s transparent pursuit of an agenda based on white supremacy had pushed the country to its breaking point.

Today, Trump and his supporters have doubled down on this agenda. As part of a larger backlash against racial justice efforts that ignited in the aftermath of the 2020 killings of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor, the 2025 Presidential Transition Project has now made its anti- diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies a cornerstone of their continued attacks on racial equity and free speech.

In addition to abandoning civil rights enforcement on behalf of marginalized groups, Trump and his supporters plan to intensify right wing attacks on education, employment, and economic opportunity initiatives, and to censor academic discussions about race, gender, and systemic oppression. At the ACLU, we won’t retreat. We’re prepared to challenge the Trump administration’s policies at every level of government. Learn more in our breakdown:

The Facts: Based on Trump’s campaign promises – and the detailed policy proposals of Project 2025 – we can expect a second Trump administration to supercharge efforts to reverse gains in civil rights and racial justice in America. Specifically, Trump has promised to continue his attacks on so-called “divisive concepts” and take federal funding from schools with curricula, books, or classes that address race, racism, gender, and sexuality. Trump has also promised to eliminate school administrator positions that oversee DEI initiatives, and to resuscitate the discredited 1776 Commission, which was a presidential advisory committee created in September 2020 by then-President Trump that was tasked with “restoring patriotic education in schools.”

Emboldened by the 2023 repeal of affirmative action in college admissions, a second Trump administration intends to abandon efforts to advance and legally defend affirmative action and DEI policies within military academies, federal minority contracting programs, and other federal programs shown to open opportunities – as well as create inclusive education and workplace environments – unfairly denied to people of color, women, and other marginalized groups. On the regulatory side, a second Trump administration would not only refuse to enforce civil rights regulations on behalf of individuals from historically marginalized groups, but to actively weaken these protections in housing, education, health care, and other essential resources.

Ultimately, Trump has made clear that his goal is to eradicate all programs designed to address profound and persistent inequalities in American life – with the effect of further entrenching, and indeed worsening, systemic inequality.

Why It Matters: Policies that seek to eradicate DEI programs, restrict conversations about race or gender in the classroom, or otherwise attack civil rights efforts are not only unlawful, but undermine our ability to repair decades of discriminatory practices and thrive as a nation. At the state level, we know that efforts to ban books or school curricula addressing the reality of systemic discrimination not only trample on students’ and educators’ constitutional rights, especially their First Amendment rights, but also threaten the retention and academic success of all students.

At the federal level, we know that a second Trump administration would dismantle or refuse to enforce critical DEI programs and initiatives that date back decades. In public health, for example, there are significant disparities in care that are closely linked to structural racism. To remedy historical discrimination and address health outcome disparities, public and private scholarship and fellowship programs have been set up to support pathways to the medical profession for underrepresented medical professionals. Without support for these programs, the race-gap in healthcare would only widen.

How We Got Here: From 2017-2021, the Trump administration used its federal legal and policy authority to bolster far-right attacks on educational and economic opportunity initiatives. For example, the administration used its investigative and legal authority to target efforts by the private sector and institutions of higher education to address inequality.

Specifically, the prior Trump administration consistently subverted traditional legal tools and principles designed to combat unlawful discrimination. It ceased enforcement of, and attempted to dismantle, disparate impact liability -- a bedrock tool for effective civil rights enforcement. The administration also revoked federal guidance designed to address race- and disability-based discrimination in student discipline policies and practices and banned, by executive order, the U.S. Armed Forces, federal agencies, federal contractors, and recipients of federal grants from providing employees with trainings related to race and gender discrimination.

In the Trump administration’s final days, it also launched the 1776 Report, which deceptively recasts the civil rights movement as corrupting progress toward racial equality. Designed to “restore patriotic education in schools,” the 1776 Report compared progressivism to fascism, claimed the civil rights movement embraced ideas similar to those held by defenders of slavery, and sought to downplay the legacy of racism in U.S. history. Historians uniformly condemned the report, pointing out that it was littered with factual inaccuracies, partisan politics, and a lack of serious scholarship.

Our Roadmap: The ACLU filed more than 430 legal actions against the Trump administration, including many lawsuits against that administration’s anti-DEI policies — from fair housing to book bans. If Trump is reelected, we’ll continue to use the courts to combat these discriminatory tactics. That includes asking the court to block any administration’s efforts to undermine the Fair Housing Act.

We will also push Congress to consistently vote against anti-DEI bills and efforts to strip federal funding from such programs, and to amplify through hearings and public statements how these programs work and the reasons why these programs remain critical. We’ll also work with states and municipalities to advance civil rights protections in the public sector and defend inclusive curricula at the K-12 level. Lastly, we’ll provide critical guidance and support to institutions and school districts to combat historical discrimination that is still constitutionally sound, despite aggressive messaging to the contrary.

What Our Experts Say: “Trump and his supporters leveraged last year’s Supreme Court decision on affirmative action to undermine and create confusion around DEI initiatives – even though DEI and affirmative action are two different issues. The ACLU is determined to educate the public on this racist agenda, and continue to defend vital efforts that counteract historical discrimination and unequal access to opportunities. – ReNika Moore, director of the ACLU Racial Justice Program

“It’s important for Americans to realize that Trump’s plans to intensify efforts to eliminate inclusive education practices and policies is a First Amendment issue, as much as it is a civil rights issue. Trump and his supporters are proposing to control what we think and learn by using the government to censor a viewpoint it doesn’t like out of existence.” – Kim Conway, senior policy counsel

What You Can Do Today: The ACLU has challenged classroom censorship laws and book bans across the country. Today, we’re expanding on that work by pushing back against attempts to restrict DEI programs. We won’t stand for the erasure of marginalized communities in our schools. Join us in this critical fight for free speech and equitable education.

Donald Trump’s administration initiated a sustained, years-long effort to erase protections for LGBTQ people. This included an effort to “define ‘transgender’ out of existence,” erode protections for transgender students and workers, and weaken access to gender-affirming health care that most transgender people already struggled to access.

While President Joe Biden’s administration reversed much of the Trump-era abuses, just last month on the campaign trail, Trump vowed to dismantle a new Biden administration policy that will offer protections for transgender students under Title IX, a federal civil rights law that prohibits sex discrimination in education.

The ACLU is prepared to defend the LGBTQ community, including transgender individuals, from a second Trump administration’s anticipated attempts to weaponize federal law against them. Learn more in our breakdown:

The Facts: Trump has promised that, if reelected, his administration will rescind federal policies that prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, and will assert that federal civil rights laws don’t cover anti-LGBTQ discrimination. In addition to rolling back existing protections, a second Trump administration will proactively mandate discrimination by the federal government wherever it can. Lastly, and perhaps most ominously, if Trump returns to the White House, we expect his administration to use federal law – including laws meant to safeguard civil rights – as a cudgel to override critical state-level protections for transgender students and to force state and local governments, as well as private organizations, to allow or even perpetuate discrimination

Why It Matters: A second Trump administration would strip LGBTQ people of protections against discrimination in many contexts, including employment, housing, education, health care, and a range of federal government programs. The Trump administration’s proposed policies would ban transgender people from serving openly in the armed forces and block gender-affirming medical care for transgender people enrolled in federal healthcare programs, such as Medicare. The effects of these cruel – and unconstitutional – discrimination efforts would be devastating, as thousands of transgender people would immediately lose access to needed medical care and the right to live freely without fear. In essence, a potential second Trump administration would seek to erase transgender people from public life entirely by using federal laws – including obscenity laws – to criminalize gender nonconformity.

How We Got Here: The Trump administration was openly hostile toward the LGBTQ community and vehemently opposed the Equality Act, which would have ensured that existing civil rights protections cover sexual orientation and gender identity in the way that they already do for race, disability, veteran status, and more. The Trump administration also blocked basic job protections for LGBTQ people, insisting that employers should be free to fire workers for their sexual orientation or gender identity. The Department of Health and Human Services under the Trump administration also eliminated nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ people established under the Affordable Care Act.

Critically, the Trump administration had an enormous impact on the courts, including the Supreme Court. Getting courts to understand the experience of transgender people and the impact of discriminatory policies on their lives was difficult even before Trump reshaped the judiciary. It is that much harder today because of the viewpoints of the judges and justices Trump appointed to the federal courts and Supreme Court.

Our Roadmap: Should a second Trump administration take office, the ACLU will use the courts to affirm that LGBTQ people are protected from discrimination under federal law, to invalidate policies mandating discrimination across the federal government, and to shut down Trump’s expected efforts to weaponize the Constitution and federal laws to require discrimination against LGBTQ people by state and local governments and private entities.

Litigation is not our only pathway to push back against anti-LGBTQ policies. Congress can, and must, use the power of the purse and its oversight and investigative authorities to constrain a second Trump administration’s extreme anti-LGBTQ agenda. The ACLU will aggressively lobby members of Congress who support the transgender community to use the appropriations process, in particular, to hinder Trump’s ability to mandate anti-trans discrimination and weaponize federal law against LGBTQ rights.

The ACLU also has a comprehensive state-level plan of attack. We will advocate for states and school boards to protect LGBTQ students by enacting guidance regarding updating student names and pronouns, and by creating inclusive rules on gender-based activities, best practices for school records, and ways to support transgender students living under a federal government that discriminates against them. We’ll also urge states to support policies that prevent their governments from being complicit in a second Trump administration’s efforts to attack the legitimacy of transgender people in our world. Lastly, we will mobilize public support on behalf of vulnerable children and youth to deter further draconian policies and help reshape the political narrative around transgender justice.

What Our Experts Say: “We have seen the disastrous consequences of a hateful campaign targeting LGBTQ people and their families with discriminatory laws, forcing many from their home states and denying many more the freedom to get the health care they need to live their lives openly, and even to decide what name to go by. We are determined to use every tool at our disposal to oppose any attempt to deny LGBTQ people the freedom to live and love freely and openly.” – Mike Zamore, national director for policy & government affairs

“For four years, President Trump and his administration left no stone unturned in their effort to attack the right of LGBTQ people to live and work as who we are. We fully expect a second Trump administration to go further, weaponizing federal law to override state level protections and mandate discrimination by schools and health care providers nationwide. Regardless of the election’s outcome, we stand ready to fight to uphold the fundamental freedom we are guaranteed by the Constitution to live our lives as we choose.” – James Esseks, director of the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Project.

What You Can Do Today: As wave after wave of extreme measures to criminalize and strip trans people of rights and safety continue, the time to act is now. Tell your members of Congress to protect trans people from discrimination today.

Sign up now to receive key issue memos as they’re released — and breaking alerts for all our work for civil liberties.

On the campaign trail, Donald Trump has promised to pursue even more extreme anti-immigrant policies if he wins a second term. These policies would disregard fundamental principles of democracy and the rule of law to devastate immigrant communities and erode freedoms for all Americans.

The ACLU is prepared to hold our executive branch to account. Just this week, we announced that we’ll challenge the Biden administration’s executive actions to illegally restrict people’s right to seek asylum – just as we previously challenged Trump’s actions. If Trump is reelected, we will continue to push to protect people and their rights against unlawful overreach. Learn more in our breakdown:

Trump On Immigration

The Facts: If reelected, Trump has promised to use totalitarian tactics to carry out the largest mass detention and deportation program in the nation’s history. Experience from smaller-scale detention sweeps shows that his proposed policies will lead to people being stopped, arrested, or detained simply because they “look foreign,” and his program will necessarily entail numerous other legal violations as well. Trump and his supporters also seek to dismantle our asylum system – creating more chaos at the border — and attack families by ending birthright citizenship and depriving undocumented children of their right to a public education. Trump has also vowed to reinstate family separation at the border – a cruel policy the ACLU blocked during his presidency.

Why It Matters: While many of the immigration policies we saw during Trump’s presidency were halted or delayed through litigation, the immigration policies we’ll likely see during a second Trump administration are far crueler, more extreme, and more fundamentally damaging to core rights and freedoms than any in living memory. If Trump is reelected, his plan to deport millions of people a year and severely restrict legal immigration will violate key legal protections – including our right to due process – and make xenophobia and racism the touchstones of American immigration policy. Simply put, these policies would harm all of us by tearing apart immigrant families, communities, and the fabric of American society.

How We Got Here: There’s no doubt that a second Trump administration will pick up and expand the anti-immigrant campaign it began in 2016. During his first term, the Trump administration instituted a Muslim ban, tried to deport Dreamers and others with temporary legal protection, separated families seeking asylum, and fought to build a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Our Roadmap: Through coordinated action at all levels and branches of government, we’re prepared to fight the Trump administration’s attack on immigrant rights. We’ll call on legislators to prevent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from conducting mass deportations and pass measures to begin shrinking the ICE detention machine. We’ll also work with states and localities to build a civil rights firewall to protect residents to the full extent possible and ensure that a Trump administration can’t hijack state resources to carry out its draconian policies. And, if Trump sends a bill to Congress that effectively ends asylum, we’re prepared to mobilize our supporters nationwide to stop it because we know that a strong majority of voters support the U.S. asylum system.

In addition to working for policy change at every government level, we’re prepared to litigate cases to protect people’s rights under the Fourth and Fifth Amendments, as well as other legal provisions, against the mass deportation program. We’ll use the full power of the Fourteenth Amendment and Supreme Court precedent to protect birthright citizenship and ensure immigrant children have equal access to education. Lastly, should a second Trump administration try to bring back family separation at the border, we’ll take them to court for violating our settlement agreement.

What Our Experts Say: “These policies have no place in a democracy that protects or respects civil liberties and the rule of law. From the courts to the halls of Congress, we will use every tool at our disposal, including litigation, to defend the rights of immigrants and protect all members of our communities from the widespread damage these policies would cause.” – Omar Jadwat, director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project

“Xenophobia and racism would become the touchstones of American immigration policy under a second Trump administration, if he is re-elected. That’s why we must begin mobilizing with local and state governments now to protect communities nationwide from extreme anti-immigrant policies.” – Naureen Shah, deputy director of government affairs at the ACLU

What You Can Do Today: ICE detention is known for abuse, pervasive medical neglect, and complete disregard for the dignity of people in its custody. Needlessly locking up people seeking a better life does nothing to make our communities safer. Take action now: Tell your congress member to support cuts for ICE detention capacity.

Sign up now to receive key issue memos as they’re released — and breaking alerts for all our work for civil liberties.

pThe Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments in iIdaho v. United States and Moyle v. United States/i, which will determine whether politicians can put doctors in jail for treating pregnant patients experiencing medical emergencies. The ultimate decision in the case — which is expected by the summer — could have severe consequences on the health and lives of people across the country facing emergency pregnancy complications. Here’s what you need to know:/p div class=wp-heading mb-8 h2 id= class=wp-heading-h2 with-standardThis case is about politicians trying to block emergency care for pregnant patients./h2 /div pAnti-abortion politicians brought this case all the way up to the Supreme Court to deny pregnant people access to emergency abortion care that is necessary to prevent severe and potentially life-altering health consequences, and even death. A federal law, the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act or EMTALA, has long guaranteed that, in an emergency, patients can get the care they need — including abortion care — regardless of where they live. This is not a Democrat or Republican issue: Every administration from President Reagan to President Biden has recognized that EMTALA requires emergency abortion care. The Supreme Court#8217;s decision to overturn iRoe v. Wade/i did not diminish these longstanding federal protections, which override state laws that would prohibit such care, but now, extreme politicians are doing everything in their power to prevent someone experiencing emergency pregnancy complications from getting care in emergency rooms./p div class=wp-heading mb-8 h2 id= class=wp-heading-h2 with-standardThis case could have a severe impact on emergency care across the country, and these devastating effects are already playing out in Idaho. /h2 /div pWhile it considers the case, the Supreme Court has already allowed Idaho politicians to block emergency care for pregnant people using the state’s abortion ban which has no exception for health, and the impact is already reverberating across the state. For example, St. Luke’s Health System, the largest health system in Idaho, which sees hundreds of thousands of emergency department visits each year, reports that they are now transferring pregnant patients with medical emergencies out of state to get the care they need, but even that delay can also increase the unacceptable risks patients face. Not surprisingly, doctors do not want to practice in a state where they are criminalized for providing the emergency care their patients need: Since Idaho’s extreme abortion ban took effect, more than 20 percent of obstetricians in Idaho have left the state, according to a a href=https://www.idahocsh.org/idaho-physician-wellbeing-action-collaborativereport/a published by the Idaho Coalition for Safe Healthcare./p pIf the Supreme Court sides with Idaho in this case, these devastating effects on patients and doctors alike could spread to other states with extreme abortion bans, such as Arizona, and would give anti-abortion politicians around the country the green light to try to prohibit this essential, even life-saving, emergency care./p div class=wp-heading mb-8 h2 id= class=wp-heading-h2 with-standardThis case is about doctors and hospitals that want to provide care, but politicians want to stop them from treating patients. /h2 /div pThe issues in this case are about hospitals and physicians who want to fulfill their oath and provide care to patients experiencing medical emergencies, but politicians want to enforce Idaho’s abortion ban up until the moment that a pregnant person’s life is at imminent risk. “Can I continue to replace her blood loss fast enough? How many organ systems must be failing? Can a patient be hours away from death before I intervene, or does it have to be minutes?”/p div class=wp-audio mb-8 div class=wp-audio__content span class=wp-audio__episode-title is-hidden-tablet is-hidden-desktop is-size-5 is-size-6-mobile In Alabama, Embryos Are People and It Won't Stop There /span div class=wp-audio__metadata columns div class=column span class=wp-audio__episode-title is-hidden-mobile is-size-5 is-size-6-mobileIn Alabama, Embryos Are People and It Won't Stop There/span p class=wp-audio__episode-description line-clamp-3 is-size-6 is-hidden-mobile On February 16, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos are children under state law, meaning the embryo has rights consistent with a person living in the United States. While this marks the first time a frozen embryo has been granted ... /p p class=wp-audio__episode-description line-clamp-5 is-size-7 is-hidden-tablet is-hidden-desktop On February 16, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos are children under state law, meaning the embryo has rights consistent with a person living in the United States. While this marks the first time a frozen embryo has been granted ... /p /div div class=wp-audio__thumbnail-wrapper column img class=wp-audio__thumbnail src=https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/themes/aclu-wp/img/at-liberty_500x500.jpg alt=Cover artwork for / /div /div /div div class=wp-audio__links is-flex is-align-items-center pl-none pl-4-tablet div class=wp-audio__links-episode is-size-7 has-text-grey has-text-weight-bold p-4 a href=https://www.aclu.org/podcast/in-alabama-embryos-are-people-and-it-wont-stop-there class=visit-link p-none mb-none no-underline column span class=visit-link__textVisit this episode/spanspan class=icon caret is-dark right / /a /div /div /div pThese are some of the questions our client Dr. Caitlin Gustafson shared that some Idaho providers are now forced to consider when a patient comes in with an emergency pregnancy complication in a recent a href=https://time.com/6968774/idaho-abortion-doctors-essay/op-ed/a on the case. Politics shouldn’t matter when you’re trying to treat a patient whose condition is rapidly deteriorating before your very eyes, but that’s the exact dystopia politicians are trying to force on all of us./p div class=wp-heading mb-8 h2 id= class=wp-heading-h2 with-standardThe extremists behind this case won’t stop with abortion. /h2 /div pOverturning iRoe v. Wade/i was just the beginning. Anti-abortion politicians are using every tool at their disposal in their campaign to ban abortion nationwide, and they won’t stop there. They are also pushing a legal strategy to give rights to embryos and fetuses that would override the rights of the pregnant person. We saw what happened in Alabama when the state supreme court granted rights to embryos, which forced IVF clinics across the state to temporarily shut down services. To be clear: There isn’t a serious argument to use EMTALA to grant legal rights to embryos, but that may not stop justices from considering whether to follow the lead of the anti-abortion movement and issue another devastating blow to people’s power to make personal medical decisions during pregnancy./p div class=wp-heading mb-8 h2 id= class=wp-heading-h2 with-standardWe have the power to fight back, and we will win!/h2 /div pAnti-abortion politicians and the groups supporting them are trying to use the courts to further their agenda because the policies they’re pushing are deeply unpopular. Every time abortion is on the ballot, voters send a clear message that they want reproductive freedom to be protected. That’s why the anti-abortion movement has turned to the courts to carry out their agenda, and the scary thing is they might just be successful./p pWhile there is already federal law to protect access to emergency care, the way anti-abortion politicians are trying to manipulate their state’s ban to deny people emergency care shows why we need to put an end to state bans once and for all. We need Congress to pass federal protections for abortion rights that will end extreme bans in states and protect access to care nationwide./p

pIn 2023, Kansas enacted a law attempting to define “transgender” out of existence by restricting the definition of a “woman” to the biological function of producing ova. Not only does this definition negate the experiences of trans women and girls, but it also excludes entire categories of women who are not transgender, such as post-menopausal women, women experiencing reproductive challenges, and intersex women./p pDespite being passed under the dubious title “Women’s Bill of Rights,” this law has not been used to create any new protections for women, nor improve support for women’s initiatives or resources. Instead, the law has been used to incite fear among transgender Kansans and limit their ability to live freely in our state./p div class=mp-md wp-link div class=wp-link__img-wrapper a href=https://www.aclu.org/cases/kansas-v-harper target=_blank tabindex=-1 img width=700 height=350 src=https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/lgbtq-issue-image.jpg class=attachment-4x3_full size-4x3_full alt=LGBTQ issue image decoding=async loading=lazy srcset=https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/lgbtq-issue-image.jpg 700w, https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/lgbtq-issue-image-400x200.jpg 400w, https://www.aclu.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/lgbtq-issue-image-600x300.jpg 600w sizes=(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px / /a /div div class=wp-link__title a href=https://www.aclu.org/cases/kansas-v-harper target=_blank Kansas v. Harper /a /div div class=wp-link__description a href=https://www.aclu.org/cases/kansas-v-harper target=_blank tabindex=-1 p class=is-size-7-mobile is-size-6-tabletFive transgender Kansans are challenging an effort by Kansas Attorney General Kobach to require the state to issue driver’s licenses with a.../p /a /div div class=wp-link__source p-4 px-6-tablet a href=https://www.aclu.org/cases/kansas-v-harper target=_blank tabindex=-1 p class=is-size-7Source: American Civil Liberties Union/p /a /div /div pKansas Attorney General Kris Kobach has claimed the new law restricts trans Kansans from updating the gender marker on their state IDs. For years, Kansas had allowed transgender residents and those born here to change the gender marker on their driver’s licenses and birth certificates. Despite having these affirming policies without any identified administrative, public safety, or other concerns, the attorney general took to the courts to pressure state agencies into removing these policies./p pIn response, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment announced a policy change banning trans Kansans from updating the gender marker on their birth certificates. The Kansas Department of Revenue, which issues driver’s licenses, declined to change its policy — prompting Kobach to sue KDOR to force a policy change in ia href=https://www.aclu.org/cases/kansas-v-harperKansas v. Harper/a./i/p pThe a href=https://www.aclukansas.org/enACLU of Kansas/a, along with ACLU’s LGBTQ amp; HIV Project and local partners, intervened in that lawsuit on behalf of five transgender Kansans to assert their right to a driver’s license that does not forcibly out them. Unfortunately, three days after the suit was filed and prior to our intervention, the judge issued a temporary order blocking trans Kansans from changing their license’s gender marker. The order, which remains in force, also requires a previously changed gender marker to revert back to the inaccurate marker when the license expires or is amended in the future./p pThis means trans people are not currently able to access accurate and affirming state identity documents in Kansas. Having an ID that reflects a trans person’s lived identity is crucial to their safety, privacy, and bodily autonomy. The research shows that lack of access to an affirming ID harms trans people, making them vulnerable to forced outing and increasing their chances of experiencing discrimination, harassment, and violence./p pThe ACLU of Kansas is going to keep fighting in iKansas v. Harper /ias long as necessary. But we also understand that trans people cannot wait months (or years) for a ruling from the courts affirming their basic constitutional rights. They must use their IDs in daily life for countless reasons, from picking up mail to purchasing items at the store. That’s why we began to partner with local LGBTQ advocates to uplift an alternative option for trans Kansans — gender-affirming ifederal/i IDs, like passport cards and passport booklets./p pTrans people can self-attest their gender when applying for a federal ID, meaning they do not need a state ID that verifies their selected gender. For trans Kansans, this means they can still obtain a federal ID that reflects the gender they live as. The ACLU of Kansas and our community partners are thrilled that despite legislative and political attacks on trans Kansans, we are still able to support our community and reduce the harm flowing from anti-trans policies in our state./p pThe ACLU of Kansas has hosted numerous Know Your Rights events and Federal ID Clinics to provide resources and reassurance to trans Kansans. People who come to these events have been relieved and overwhelmed by the community support they experience. In the face of discriminatory laws trying to erase their existence, trans Kansans are coming together to share information and support each other. The power of community persists./p pIn the wake of nationwide anti-trans legislation and rhetoric over the past few years, events where trans Kansans can come together are even more important. In a rural state like Kansas where people can feel isolated, these events are not only an opportunity for people to access the assistance they need, but they also allow folks to connect and share in their pain and in their joy. One mother I met at a virtual event was ecstatic to know she could get her child a gender-affirming federal ID before they started college. She feared that her child would not be able to enroll for college with the correct name and gender marker because of the new anti-trans law./p pDespite efforts by anti-trans extremists to try to deny our humanity, to isolate us, trans Kansans are not going anywhere. Thousands of trans people call Kansas home, and we will remain. We will continue to define our own lives, support each other, and build power. These laws may have produced a wide unknown but the power of our community is deeply rooted./p

State legislation can have an immense impact on your civil rights, for better or for worse. And even though state lawmakers are tasked with determining which bills get turned into laws, you hold a lot of power to make these decisions because you elect candidates into office. Take this quiz to learn about lawmaking at the state level, and how you can play a part in this process at the ballot box.

Click to see Quiz

Across the country, our affiliates are challenging discriminatory policies and practices that disproportionately affect women, and particularly women of color. From housing discrimination in Illinois, to inhumane treatment of incarcerated pregnant individuals in North Carolina, and discriminatory dress codes in Texas schools, the ACLU and its affiliates are at the forefront of legal and advocacy efforts that promote gender equality and justice for all.

Here are three ways our affiliates are stepping up:

The ACLU of Illinois recently joined with national and local advocates, including the ACLU’s Women’s Rights Project, to challenge the “No-Evictions” policies of two large landlords — Hunter Properties and Oak Park Apartments — in Cook County, Illinois. These policies automatically reject rental housing applicants who have had any prior connection to an eviction case. The effect is to shut out families from housing opportunities, even when the eviction case was dismissed or filed years ago. Such policies have a discriminatory effect on Black renters, and especially Black women. Analysis of data from the Cook County Sheriff’s Office found that Black women accounted for approximately 33 percent of those served with an eviction case or evicted, despite making up just 22 percent of all renters in Cook County. Black renters in general faced nearly triple the likelihood of experiencing an eviction case than non-Black renters.

The lawsuit filed against Hunter Properties, and the civil rights complaint filed with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development against Oak Park Apartments, argue their respective “No-Evictions” policies have a disparate impact on Black renters, especially Black women renters, that violate the 1968 Fair Housing Act. The complaint against Oak Park Apartments also asserts that its policy perpetuates and reinforces residential segregation in violation of the Fair Housing Act. The two filings are among the first in the nation to challenge landlords’ eviction screening policies as discriminatory.

In 2021, the North Carolina General Assembly finally passed a statewide law banning correctional officers, sheriffs, and other prison staff from shackling incarcerated people during critical periods of their pregnancy and postpartum journey. The law, HB 608, also known as Dignity for Women Who are Incarcerated, came after years of advocacy by the ACLU of North Carolina and several other partner organizations, including Planned Parenthood South Atlantic and SisterSong.

A pivotal factor in the bill’s passage was an OB-GYN’s moving account of delivering a baby to a shackled woman in custody. Labor and childbirth are already intense and vulnerable experiences, and the use of restraints can exacerbate the physical and emotional pain of the mother. This story deeply resonated, even with resistant sheriffs, ultimately propelling the legislation forward.

Despite the passage of this legislation, challenges persist. Recent revelations suggest some North Carolina prisons and jails have not been in compliance with the law. Undeterred, the ACLU of North Carolina is initiating a comprehensive awareness and compliance campaign, and will be filing public record requests with the jails in all 100 counties in North Carolina, coordinating legal education seminars for the criminal defense bar and developing content on the importance of reproductive justice and the need to uphold the rights of incarcerated individuals. With these efforts, the ACLU-NC aims to ensure adherence to the law and foster a deeper appreciation for upholding the dignity of pregnant people in prison and jails.

More than half of Texas public K-12 school districts still have discriminatory dress codes and grooming policies. The ACLU of Texas has uncovered alarming disparities in school dress codes, revealing a trend of discrimination against students based on gender, race and ethnicity, LGBTQ identity, religion, disability, and socioeconomic background. The ACLU of Texas recently published a new report that reviews policies from 97 percent of Texas school districts and highlights pervasive inequalities within them.

Some of the survey’s major findings include:

• More than 80 percent of districts enforce vague and subjective hair standards, which could lead to disproportionately penalizing Black students.
• 53 percent of districts uphold dress codes rooted in outdated gender norms, such as boys-only hair length policies and girls-only sleeve length policies.
• More than 80 percent of districts prohibit head coverings without explicitly noting or explaining the religious exemptions mandated by law, harming students of diverse faith backgrounds.
• Nearly 80 percent of districts penalize students for wearing worn or improperly sized clothing, disproportionately impacting economically disadvantaged students.

In light of these disparities, the ACLU of Texas is taking action to challenge discriminatory dress codes and foster inclusive classroom environments. They’re sending the report to every district in the state to equip students, families, educators, and policymakers with knowledge that can help identify the harms of — and solutions to — discriminatory dress code policies. The report provides advocacy tools for community members and a roadmap for school districts, outlining recommendations like removing discriminatory dress code language, establishing fair enforcement practices, and providing clear and specific dress code guidelines. The ACLU of Texas is actively working in the courts and communities to push for more inclusive dress codes.

If you’ve faced or witnessed dress code discrimination, you can share your experience to continue this advocacy.

No student should ever be punished for being who they are. Instead of discriminating against young people, we should be preparing them for their futures.