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For Immediate Release
July, 24 2020, 12:00am EDT
Contact:
Inga Sarda-Sorensen, isarda-sorensen@aclu.org
ACLU, Immigrants' Rights Groups Sue Trump Administration Over New Census Order
NEW YORK
The American Civil Liberties Union, New York Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Texas, and Arnold & Porter filed a federal lawsuit today on behalf of immigrants' rights groups challenging President Trump's new order seeking to block people who are undocumented from being counted in the U.S. census.
Plaintiffs are the New York Immigration Coalition, Make the Road New York, CASA, American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, ADC Research Institute, and FIEL Houston.
The action "challenges President Trump's lawless attempt to exclude undocumented immigrants from the 'persons' who must be counted in the census for purposes of apportioning congressional seats to states."
"The constitutional mandate is clear--every person counts in the census. Undocumented immigrants are people--and nothing President Trump does or says changes that fact," said Dale Ho, director of the ACLU's Voting Rights Project, who successfully argued the U.S. Supreme Court case blocking the Trump administration from placing a citizenship question on the 2020 census in its attempt to intimidate immigrant communities from participating. "Trump tried once to weaponize the census against immigrant communities, and failed. He will fail again."
The policy, the lawsuit notes, "is a discriminatory attack on immigrants and immigrant communities, and particularly immigrant communities of color. It is intended to ... send the message that they do not count."
"Trump's outrageous memo is an attempt to erase immigrants," said Theo Oshiro, deputy director of Make the Road New York. "Today, we are sending a clear message: All communities will be counted. We will keep organizing and fighting to ensure our communities receive the representation and resources that we deserve. We urge the court to stop this reckless memo in its tracks."
The lawsuit notes that "every decennial census in our nation's history has included every person who lives in the United States, regardless of citizenship or immigration status, for purposes of apportioning congressional representation. Defendant Trump's new 'policy' set forth in the memorandum therefore not only violates the plain and unequivocal text of Section 2 of the Fourteenth Amendment and related Supreme Court precedent, it also departs from hundreds of years of consistent census practice."
"Mark my words--we already beat Trump's effort to suppress immigrants from the census, and we'll do it again. Sadly, it's not a surprise that he is still trying to suppress the count and rig the census for partisan gain by cheating big, immigrant rich states like New York of federal resources and representation," said Steve Choi, executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition. "This effort to erase undocumented immigrant New Yorkers entirely from the census is blatantly unconstitutional and illegal, and we refuse to be rendered invisible. We've fought the Trump administration at the Supreme Court and won once already, and we have no doubt that we will win again. The census count is too critical to New York's recovery from this pandemic over the next 10 years."
"We want to make sure that President Trump can't erase this country's millions of hard-working immigrants and cripple the regions that have welcomed them as neighbors," said CASA Executive Director Gustavo Torres. "The census--and our fight--is about ensuring that our communities are fully represented in this country. We won before the Supreme Court when Trump tried to add a citizenship question to the census and we will win again to ensure a complete count in 2020."
"Trump's memo is yet another attack on immigrants and communities of color. His administration tells us time and time again--they do not see us all as equal persons. And we will not stand for that. We are working for an America where all humans are treated with dignity and respect. This is another battle we will fight if we need to," said Samer Khalaf, national president of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.
The lawsuit cites constitutional and statutory violations. Defendants are President Trump, the Department of Commerce, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, the Census Bureau, and Census Director Steven Dillingham.
"We condemn the administration for making this unprecedented move that will ultimately hurt all communities in the U.S. We as immigrants are a vital part of our communities. We as immigrants live in the shadows because of unjust immigration laws that refuse to accept us as full citizens of this country. We as immigrants will no longer stay silent when faced with these injustices. We want to be taken into account not only on the census but at the decision-making table in Congress. We are proud to join in this lawsuit because we cannot have taxation without representation. We are human beings who are a vital part of the fabric of America and we must be treated as such," said Cesar Espinosa, executive director of FIEL Houston.
"Trump's latest move to undermine the census is nothing more than a racist and anti-democratic Hail Mary. The last time we sued him and won, his administration had to admit in court repeatedly that the Constitution requires a count of all people, regardless of immigration status. Now Trump is once again demonizing immigrants in a cynical ploy to deceive the public and squeeze resources and political power from states like New York. He fell flat before and will fall even harder this time, because everyone counts, and everyone must be counted," said NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman.
The lawsuit, New York Immigration Coalition v. Trump, was filed in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York.
Complaint: https://www.aclu.org/legal-document/complaint-new-york-immigration-coalition-v-trump
The American Civil Liberties Union was founded in 1920 and is our nation's guardian of liberty. The ACLU works in the courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to all people in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States.
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'Kids Will Suffer': Supreme Court Axes Colorado’s Ban on Harmful LGBTQ+ ‘Conversion Therapy’
Young people are more than twice as likely to attempt suicide if they have been subject to conversion therapy, which LGBTQ+ rights advocates say is "proven to cause lasting psychological harm."
Mar 31, 2026
The US Supreme Court on Tuesday struck down Colorado’s ban on “conversion therapy,” drawing warnings from LGBTQ+ groups that the ruling could expose children in dozens of states to the harmful practice.
Colorado's law forbade licensed physicians and mental healthcare providers from attempting to "convert" or change a minor's sexuality, a practice that the American Psychological Association has found to be both ineffective and dangerous, raising rates of depression, anxiety, and suicide in LGBTQ+ youth.
The law defined "conversion therapy" as any treatment that “attempts or purports to change an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity, including efforts to change behaviors or gender expressions or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attraction or feelings toward individuals of the same sex.”
It allowed exemptions for pastors and religious organizations. It also allowed health professionals to engage in wide-ranging discussions with children about their sexual and gender identities, so long as they did not try to change the child's orientation.
Nevertheless, on Tuesday, the high court sided 8-1 with Kaley Chiles, a Christian counselor who said she wished to offer talk therapy to children who want to reduce same-sex attraction and argued that the ban on this practice was in violation of her First Amendment rights.
Chiles was backed by the Trump administration, as well as the far-right Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian nationalist legal group with a long history of seeking to outlaw same-sex conduct.
Most famously, the group argued in support of state laws criminalizing homosexuality in the 2003 Lawrence v. Texas case, and it has since gone on to back many other cases attacking birth control access, same-sex marriage, and transgender equality.
In the majority opinion, the conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote that Colorado's law “censors speech based on viewpoint" and therefore must be subject to strict scrutiny—the highest form of judicial review, which the court determined it did not pass.
The lone dissenting justice, Ketanji Brown Jackson, argued that Chiles' treatment was not mere speech, but that it was acting in her capacity "as a licensed healthcare professional," which formed the crux of Colorado's defense of the ban.
She argued that the ruling "opens a dangerous can of worms" and "threatens to impair states’ ability to regulate the provision of medical care in any respect."
"Because the majority plays with fire in this case, I fear that the people of this country will get burned," Jackson said.
Two liberals, Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, joined the conservatives in striking the law down. However, they argued in a concurring opinion that a full ban on therapy aimed at changing minors' sexuality might be more lawful than the one Colorado passed, which included carveouts for specific circumstances.
Kagan also argued that allowing Colorado to outlaw conversion therapy could backfire and give red states the legal framework to also ban counselors from providing affirmative care to LGBTQ+ minors.
LGBTQ+ rights organizations have roundly condemned the court's decision, which is expected to weaken bans on conversion therapy in the 23 states and the District of Columbia that currently have them.
"Today’s reckless decision means more American kids will suffer," said Kelley Robinson, the president of the Human Rights Campaign. "The Court has weaponized free speech in order to prioritize anti-LGBTQ+ bias over the safety, health, and well-being of children."
A 2024 mental health survey by the Trevor Project, an LGBTQ+ advocacy group, found that 13% of LGBTQ+ young people have been either threatened with or subject to conversion therapy—including about 1 in 6 transgender or nonbinary youth.
Previously, the group published peer-reviewed research in the American Journal of Public Health, showing that young people subject to conversion therapy were more than twice as likely to attempt suicide as their peers.
"These efforts, no matter what proponents call them, no matter what any court says, are still proven to cause lasting psychological harm," said Trevor Project CEO Jaymes Black. "That’s why protections have been enacted in more than 20 states, and are supported by every major medical and mental health association in the country."
Carl Charles, a senior attorney at Lambda Legal who joined more than a dozen survivors of the practice in a friend of the court brief in support of Colorado's law, said, "I know firsthand the long-lasting harms of conversion therapy, having been subjected to it when I was 15 years old."
"This practice did not change my sexual orientation or gender identity," said Charles, a transgender man. "Instead, it destroyed important relationships and created shame and fear that took time and effort to undo. For many survivors, it is a reverberating life-long harm."
"LGBTQ+ youth do not need to be changed," Charles said. "Rather, like all youth, they need to be supported and celebrated for the unique and important people they are becoming."
Colorado's Democratic Gov. Jared Polis has said he will seek to pass new legislation that complies with the Supreme Court's ruling.
"Conversion therapy doesn’t work, can seriously harm youth, and Coloradans should beware before turning over their hard-earned money to a scam," Polis said. "I am evaluating the US Supreme Court ruling and working to figure out how to better protect LGBTQ youth and free speech in Colorado."
In other states whose bans could be undermined by the ruling, efforts have already begun to ensure that providers who cause harm to children still face accountability.
In California, which has a similar ban on conversion therapy to Colorado’s, state Sen. Scott Weiner (D-11) introduced a bill proposing a longer statute of limitations and making it easier for LGBTQ+ individuals to bring malpractice claims against medical professionals who subject them to conversion therapy.
Weiner noted that the Supreme Court's ruling "explicitly states that malpractice claims for conversion therapy are different than bans," since they require a plaintiff to demonstrate injury caused by their treatment.
"You can’t 'convert' someone who’s LGBTQ—full stop—and people who think you can are peddling quackery," Weiner said. "California will always have the community’s back."
The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline can be reached by calling or texting 988, or through chat at 988lifeline.org. The Trevor Project, which serves LGBTQ+ youth, can be reached at 1-866-488-7386, by texting "START" to 678-678, or through chat at TheTrevorProject.org. Both offer 24/7, free, and confidential support.
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President Donald Trump was elected twice on promises of upholding "law and order," but his blanket pardon of January 6, 2021 Capitol insurrectionists—dozens of whom have since run afoul of the law—is drawing renewed criticism in the wake of one particularly heinous crime.
On Monday, a federal judge in Massachusetts sentenced Daniel Tocci to four years in prison followed by five years of supervised release after he was convicted of possessing more than 100,000 child pornography images, as well as photos and videos showing extreme deadly violence against women and animals.
Tocci had been previously charged with crimes connected to the storming of the US Capitol on January 6. Trump—who was impeached for a historic second time for inciting the insurrection—pardoned more than 1,500 Capitol insurrectionists, including those who brutally attacked law enforcement officers, on his first day back in the White House.
The largest US police union warned at the time that the mass pardon sent "a dangerous message" that would "embolden" criminals, a warning that was echoed by numerous civil society groups.
However, Trump was undaunted, railing against a "corrupt" system that wrongfully persecuted "patriots."
Those pardoned "patriots" subsequently went on what the editors of The New York Times on Tuesday described as a "crime spree." At least 33 of them were rearrested, charged, or sentenced for other crimes between the time of their pardon and December 2025, according to Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).
"Six of the pardoned January 6th insurrectionists are charged with committing child sex crimes, ranging from sexual assault to possession of child pornography," CREW continued. "At least five were charged with illegal possession of weapons, including at least two who had a previous domestic violence conviction. Five were arrested or charged with driving while impaired or under the influence. In two of these cases, the defendant’s reckless driving resulted in a fatality. Two were charged with rape."
This is Andrew Paul Johnson. Andrew was convicted of insurrection on January 6 for assaulting cops.Trump pardoned Andrew. 9 months later, Andrew was caught molesting children, sharing CSAM, & buying victims' silence by giving them money from a Justice Dept settlement.Trump protects pedophiles.
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— Qasim Rashid, Esq. (@qasimrashid.com) March 6, 2026 at 7:30 AM
The Times editors wrote that Trump's "self-serving pardons are so numerous that public attention cannot keep up with them."
"He has created a veritable pardon industry, in which people with White House connections accept payments from wealthy convicts," they continued. "Among those on whom he has bestowed freedom are dozens of people convicted of fraud."
In May 2024, Trump was convicted of 34 fraud-related felonies after he falsified business records regarding hush money payments to cover up sex scandals during the 2016 presidential election.
"He has also pardoned Juan Orlando Hernández, a former president of Honduras, who helped traffic hundreds of tons of cocaine into the United States, and Ross Ulbricht, who was serving a life sentence for running Silk Road, a sprawling criminal enterprise that sold drugs," the Times editors added.
Yet Trump ordered the invasion of Venezuela and the kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife for alleged narco-terrorism offenses. He also ordered the campaign of nearly 50 airstrikes on boats allegedly smuggling drugs on the high seas and sent troops into Ecuador in the name of fighting drugs.
Emboldened by their pardons and, critics say, Trump's aura of impunity, some pardoned Capitol insurrectionists have parlayed their participation in the attack into runs for elected office. Some are reveling in their embrace by a Republican Party that has enabled Trump's crimes for years and has whitewashed the terror that lawmakers of both parties felt during the Capitol attack.
Steve Bannon: The J6ers are here at CPAC! All of them! The J6 choir is gonna play the Kennedy Center! pic.twitter.com/Lkj3nRPxqD
— Grace Chong, MBI (@gc22gc) February 20, 2025
Others are suing the federal government for tens of millions of dollars, alleging that the law enforcement officers—five of whose deaths are linked to the events of January 6—physically and emotionally harmed them that day. One woman, Ashli Babbitt, was shot and killed while storming the Capitol; the Trump administration agreed to a nearly $5 million settlement with her family and the Air Force offered full military funeral honors.
Responding to Tocci's sentencing for child pornography possession, Scott Kelley Ernest, a former white supremacist who now helps others leave hate groups, quipped on Bluesky, "Another one bites the dust... until Trump hires him to be an ambassador."
That's exactly what the president did for Charles Kushner, the father of Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, who in 2005 was convicted of 18 felony counts including illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion, and witness tampering. Trump pardoned the elder Kushner in 2020 and, in 2025, appointed him ambassador to France and Monaco, a known hub of illicit financial activity.
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A leaked diplomatic cable signed by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio instructs American embassies and consulates worldwide to engage in a coordinated campaign to counter foreign propaganda, which the missive defines in part as messaging that seeks to “shift blame to the United States.”
The Guardian, which obtained a copy of the cable, reported on Monday that US State Department employees have been asked to "work alongside the US military’s psychological operations unit to address the problem of rampant disinformation" on social media.
The cable points to the Community Notes feature on Elon Musk's X platform, which allows other X users to provide context or correct false claims on other users' posts, as a particularly useful feature for the US to push back against narratives promoted by foreign governments.
The initiative's main goals are "countering hostile messaging, expanding access to information, exposing adversary behavior, elevating local voices who support American interests, and promoting what it calls 'telling America’s story,'" The Guardian reported.
In explaining the need to the initiative, the State Department cable cited foreign influence campaigns that "seek to shift blame to the United States, sow division among allies, promote alternative worldviews antithetical to America’s interests, and even undermine American economic interests and political freedoms."
The cable did not address social media posts by US President Donald Trump, who has repeated sowed divisions among US allies. On Tuesday, for example, the president once again lashed out at European nations for not helping carry out his unconstitutional war with Iran, telling them to "start learning how to fight for yourself" because "the USA won’t be there to help you anymore, just like you weren’t there for us."
The president's posts have also undermined the country's political freedoms, including multiple instances where he has described US journalists as the "enemy of the people," while pushing for American TV networks to lose their broadcasting licenses if they continue airing negative stories about him and his administration.
The plan to combat foreign influence operations comes as the US has struggled to fight a propaganda battle against Iran, and Trump last month even floated "charges of treason" for journalists who report what he described as "fake news" about the conflict.
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