Trump, Immigration, Trans Rights: The Stories That Shaped 2025

This year, the ACLU’s most-read stories reflected the pressing issues shaping life in America: challenges to civil liberties, attacks on marginalized communities, and the ongoing struggle to hold those in power accountable.

From Trump’s unprecedented moves to expand domestic military operations and cut funding to public media, to the targeting of immigrant families and activists like Mahmoud Khalil, these stories reveal a society grappling with the consequences of abuse of power, political retaliation, and discrimination. Our work explaining Trump’s executive orders undermining protections for transgender people, and revealing how immigrant parents pushed back against Donald Trump’s attacks on birthright citizenship show our communities actively fighting for their rights.

These stories are not just headlines; they are evidence of the forces threatening democracy, free speech, and human dignity. They also show the resilience of individuals and advocates pushing back. Together, they offer a snapshot of the issues defining 2025 and the ongoing fight for justice.

Starting in January, we sounded the alarm that military troops do not belong on our streets and should not be used to police civilians here at home. Since he took office, President Donald Trump has deployed military troops and federal agents in cities across the country in an effort to scare our communities, target political opponents and intimidate those who protest his policies.

This is all part of a continued effort by President Trump to abuse his power and deploy federal agents and military troops anywhere he wants, against whoever he wants. Cities and communities have pushed back, joining the ACLU and our partners to stop our neighborhoods from becoming places where people feel afraid to leave their homes.

What Happens Next: Courts have so far blocked the Trump administration’s attempts to federalize state National Guard troops and deploy them to multiple cities, including Portland and Chicago. But the government has now asked the Supreme Court to affirm its attempt to federalize and deploy troops to Chicago. The ACLU continues to urge both the courts and Congress to block these deployments and hold the Trump administration accountable for any abuses that stem from these activations.

Trump’s efforts to defund NPR and PBS were a historic assault on press freedom. In a May 2025 executive order titled “Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Biased Media,” Trump directed agencies to cut both direct and indirect federal funding to these public media outlets, accusing them of biased reporting. In response, NPR and several local stations filed a lawsuit, arguing that the order violates the First Amendment by retaliating against them for their editorial choices. The ACLU filed a friend-of-the-court brief in support.

What Happens Next: These lawsuits, and the fight for press freedom, is ongoing.

Our client, Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil wrote a powerful letter to his newborn son from an immigration detention center in Louisiana, where he was held for three months after ICE arrested him without a warrant in retaliation for his protected speech. In his letter, he appeals to students, advocates, and elected officials to defend the right to protest — framing his case not just as personal persecution but as part of a broader attack on immigrants, the rule of law, and people who spoke out in support of Palestinian human rights.

What Happens Next: Khalil was released from detention in June 2025 after a federal judge ordered his release and blocked the administration from deporting him as the case proceeds. His immigration case and his lawsuit challenging his unconstitutional detention are both ongoing.

Across the country, iImmigrant parents—many of whom have U.S.-born children—had to confront the reality that their own kids could be treated like political bargaining chips. The ACLU represented several families in their lawsuit against the Trump administration's unlawful executive order targeting birthright citizenship. They told us that revoking citizenship for children born in the U.S. was not only terrifying, but a violation of their constitutional rights.

What Happens Next: The Supreme Court announced in December that it will hear our case challenging Trump’s attempt to deny birthright citizenship to babies born in the U.S. We’re prepared to remind the court that the administration’s attempt to end birthright citizenship is a direct violation of the 14th Amendment.

In January, Trump’s executive orders targeting transgender people ordered the Federal Bureau of Prisons and Department of Homeland Security to force transgender women into men’s prisons and detention centers, ignoring safety guidelines, and withdraw medically-necessary care, putting more than 2,000 incarcerated trans people at high risk of abuse. The order also blocked transgender and intersex people from updating sex markers on new passports, visas, and trusted traveler documents, effectively outing them and limiting their ability to travel.

What Happens Next: The Supreme Court allowed the government to enforce a discriminatory passport policy against transgender people. A federal judge, however, blocked the Trump administration from denying incarcerated people gender-affirming care.