President Trump signed more executive orders on his first day in office than any other president in American history, targeting the rights of immigrants, LGBTQ people, and more without regard for constitutional rights or respect for the democratic process—and he has continued to brazenly flout these norms and safeguards. Thanks to your support, our lawyers have been hard at work defending our rights against these attacks. We filed our first lawsuit within hours of the president signing an executive order that aims to ban birthright citizenship.
Below, you will find our expert analysis on several executive orders signed by the president so far or agency policies put into effect by his administration, along with updates about our litigation efforts to stop them.
Jump to: Immigrants' Rights | Transgender Justice | Free Speech & DEIA
Immigrants' Rights
Protecting freedom of speech for immigrants
On March 8, 2025, federal immigration enforcement agents arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian recent graduate of Columbia University who was formerly one of the lead negotiators on behalf of pro-Palestine protestors on the Columbia campus in spring 2024. They first indicated that the government had revoked his student visa, but when Mahmoud’s wife showed them his green card and explained that he was a permanent resident, the agents represented that they had revoked that, too—even though permanent residents are entitled to due process before any revocation of their status. We have joined his legal team in calling on the government to release Mahmoud and vindicate his rights.
Read more about Mr. Khalil's case
Challenging President Trump's invocation of the Alien Enemies Act
The Alien Enemies Act, passed in 1798, is a wartime authority providing that the president may — after a public proclamation — apprehend, restrain, and remove citizens of a foreign country that is engaged in a “declared war” or “invasion or predatory incursion” against the United States. The lawsuit charges that President Trump's invocation of a centuries-old wartime act unlawfully during peacetime to accelerate mass deportations, sidestepping the limits of this wartime authority and the procedures and protections in immigration law. The Alien Enemies Act’s previous use during wartime — for example, its invocation during World War II to justify the internment of people of Japanese ancestry — has correctly drawn sustained criticism. Employing it as a way to evade domestic laws in peacetime is fundamentally wrong.
Read more about the Alien Enemies Act lawsuit
Defending birthright citizenship
At the ACLU, we know that denying citizenship to U.S.-born children is not only unconstitutional—it’s also a reckless and ruthless repudiation of American values. Birthright citizenship is part of what makes the United States the strong and dynamic nation that it is. With this executive order, President Trump seeks to repeat one of the gravest errors in American history by creating a permanent subclass of people born in the U.S. who are denied full rights as Americans—which is why we filed a lawsuit on Day 1 of the Trump administration, and are glad the court has temporarily blocked this "blatently unconstitutional" order from taking effect.
Read More About Birthright Citizenship
Protecting asylum at the border
President Trump’s directive to suspend asylum entirely is extreme, unjust, and a disservice to families seeking safety at our southern border. Denying migrants and displaced individuals from the opportunity to find safety undermines our nation’s values and creates additional strain on our already burdened border communities. Our lawsuit underscores the unlawful nature of this policy and emphasizes the need to protect asylum seekers’ rights.
Read more about our asylum lawsuit
Maintaining due process during deportation
The Trump administration wants to use an illegal policy to fuel its mass deportation agenda and rip communities apart. With his executive order on fast-tracking deportation, the president is targeting immigrants nationwide who cannot prove they have been in the country continuously for two years or more. Due process requires they get a fair hearing, which this rule strips from them. Under this rule, immigrants who have been integrated into and contribute to our communities would get less due process contesting their deportation than they would contesting a traffic ticket — which is why several ACLU affiliates have filed lawsuits to challenge changes to deportation practices.
Read more about our deportation lawsuit
Keeping immigrants out of Guantánamo Bay
We are deeply concerned by the Trump administration's practice of transferring detainees to Guantánamo Bay, and have filed several lawsuits to stop this unjust and inhumane policy decision. Sending immigrants to a remote and notoriously abusive prison is not only illegal and unprecedented; it is also illogical given the additional cost and logistical complications. Ultimately this powergrab is about theatrics, not smart policymaking. That is why we have filed a lawsuit urging the court to block the transfer of immigrant detainees to Guantánamo.
Read more abut our concerns and legal actions
Transgender Justice
Safeguarding gender-affirming health care
An order signed by the president directed federal agencies to withhold funds from medical providers and institutions that provide gender-affirming medical treatments such as puberty suppressants and hormone therapies to anyone under 19, threatening to shut down access to essential health care that is already out of reach for many. We filed a lawsuit alongside Lamda Legal to defend the rights of trans kids and their families to access physician-prescribed, medically recommended care, and the court has agreed to temporarily block the policy from going into effect.
Read more about our trans health care lawsuit
Ending sex-based discrimination
On his first day back in office, President Trump signed a far-reaching executive order requiring federal agencies to discriminate against transgender people by denying who they are and threatening the freedom of self-determination and self-expression for all. We all deserve the freedom to be ourselves, including the right to determine what’s right for our bodies and lives. Trump’s sex discrimination mandate threatens to deny that freedom to transgender people across the country while forcing everyone else to sacrifice their own freedom and privacy, too.
While transgender youth in Vermont are still allowed to play sports and use restroom facilities consistent with their gender identity, the ACLU has filed a lawsuit to protect this right nationwide. We have also filed a lawsuit challenging an executive order that aims to deny transgender people access to passports that reflect their gender identity.
Free Speech and Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Bolstering diversity, equity, inclusion & accessibility efforts
The Trump administration’s executive orders and agency actions targeting diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) initiatives take a “shock and awe” approach that upends longstanding, bipartisan federal policy meant to open doors that had been unfairly closed. President Donald Trump is undertaking a deliberate effort to obfuscate and weaponize civil rights laws that address discrimination and ensure everyone has a fair chance to compete, whether it’s for a job, a promotion, or an education. We filed a lawsuit challenging a recent "Dear Colleague" letter than threatens to withhold federal funding from schools that continue their diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts.
Read More about DEI & Accessibility
Defending the rule of law
President Trump is attempting to silence those who embody the mission and ideals of the legal profession by representing the people in the orderly resolution of disputes in the court system and, critically, holding government officials to account when they violate the people’s rights. We've joined 20+ organizations in calling on the judiciary, bar associations, law firms, and individual lawyers to speak out against this dangerous assault on the legal profession and the rule of law, hold firm in defending and facilitating the lawful and ethical practice of law, and stand ready to scrutinize and hold the government accountable for its own unethical and unlawful conduct in pursuit of this administration’s aims.
Defending speech on college campuses
In response to two executive orders that aim to restrict speech, the ACLU issued an open letter to colleges and universities that urges respect for students' constitutionally protected speech and protest rights. We sent this letter to all colleges and universities in Vermont. This guidance was especially timely given a recent post by President Trump on Truth Social where he threatened to revoke federal funding from schools that allow "illegal protests" and proposing that “agitators will be imprisoned/or permanently sent back to the country from which they came.”
Stay Tuned
As our legal experts continue analyzing actions taken by the Trump administration and Congress, we will make updates to this resource. Remember: Inciting fear and a sense of overwhelm is the point of this flurry of unconstitutional executive orders. We will continue to fight these and other efforts to undermine our rights in the courts, in the state house, and in our community.