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. Thanks to your support, our lawyers are already 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 this and several other executive orders signed by the president so far.
Attacking on 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.
Read More About Birthright Citizenship
Reinstating 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.
Read more about sex-based discrimination
Rolling Back Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Accessibility Efforts
The Trump administration’s three executive orders 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. In his first few days, 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.
Read More about DEI & Accessibility
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.