ACLU-D.C. Statement Marking One Year of the Second Trump Administration

We the People of D.C. will not be intimidated into silence and inaction. We are answering the call to defend democracy in our nation’s capital.

January 20, 2026 9:20 am

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Today marks one year since the second Trump administration took office. Monica Hopkins, Executive Director of the ACLU of the District of Columbia, said:

“The people of D.C. have faced historic onslaughts on our civil rights and liberties under the second Trump administration. Our neighborhoods have been flooded with military troops and federal agents. Exemplary federal employees have lost their jobs in a political purge. And our local democracy has been undermined by the power-grabbing president and his allies in Congress.

But We the People of D.C. will not be intimidated into silence and inaction. Since day one, people and organizations across the District have answered the call to defend democracy in our nation’s capital. Because despite the Trump administration’s attempts at fear and intimidation, every one of us in the District has rights, regardless of who we are, where we come from, or what we believe.

In this first year, the ACLU-D.C. along with our partners and brave clients, filed twelve lawsuits to defend our rights and liberties from the Trump administration. We’ve sued to stop unlawful immigration arrests because no one should live in fear of being targeted and abducted every time they walk their kids to school, head to work, or go see a doctor. We've filed lawsuits to stop other egregious abuses of power against immigrants’ rights as well. We sued to stop the administration from detaining people in inhumane conditions at the notorious Guantanamo Bay prison and deporting people without a fair process – and even with no process, as was the case for hundreds of people shipped off to a Salvadoran torture prison. We've also sued to protect the right to free speech, the right to vote, and the right to be free from discrimination.

And we are just getting started. We’re meeting year two of this administration with the full force of our organization’s 65 years of experience defending fundamental rights and liberties in our nation’s capital.

We will continue educating our communities and mounting this resistance because it’s up to all of us to defend simple and foundational principles of our democracy.”