This week at the ACLU of Maine: Oral arguments in NHICS v. Trump at the federal appeals court, recapping the 2025 legislative session, a save-the-date for an upcoming event in Portland, and more!

NHICS v. Trump, Brought by the ACLU of Maine and Others, Heads to the First Circuit for the U.S. Court of Appeals. 

Only hours after Trump's inauguration, the ACLU of Maine and other partner organizations filed a lawsuit challenging the president's executive order restricting birthright citizenship. In February, the federal judge in this case temporarily blocked the executive order from taking effect, but the government appealed to the First Circuit for the U.S. Court of Appeals. On August 1st, arguments were heard at the federal appeals court in Boston. While the case is under review, the judge’s original injunction remains in place, blocking enforcement of the order in all states within the First Circuit.

We filed a second, separate case challenging Trump’s birthright citizenship executive order in June — here’s why:

That same month, the Supreme Court issued a decision limiting the use of nationwide injunctions in three other cases challenging the order. In response, the attorneys who brought NHICS v. Trump filed a new case, Barbara v. Trump. In Barbara, the court certified a class of all babies affected by the executive order and blocked enforcement of the order against them.

This approach — using a nationwide class action — protects all babies born in the U.S. under the order, without relying on a nationwide injunction, which the Supreme Court is now restricting.

Watch our 2025 Legislative Recap Webinar

On Wednesday of this week, we held a live webinar recapping a busy and productive legislative session in Augusta. Our policy director, Michael Kebede, and policy fellow, Alicia Rea, walked through each of the ACLU of Maine's six legislative priorities, highlighting our wins and setting the stage for future work in those areas. 

If you missed it, or want to revisit parts of the conversation, we've uploaded a recording of the webinar here. 

And, if you want to dive even deeper, you can read our full 2025 Legislative Report here, and read more about each of our priorities here. 

Save the Date: ACLU National Board President Comes to Portland

We’re excited to welcome Deborah Archer, the ACLU’s national board president, to Portland! 

 

Join us for a conversation with Deborah about her recent book, Dividing Lines: How Transportation Infrastructure Reinforces Racial Inequality. In her book, Deborah offers a critical examination of how transportation infrastructure -- from highways and roads to sidewalks and buses -- has been used to maintain segregation and deepen racial inequality after the fall of Jim Crow.

The event will include an author talk and a panel discussion with local experts exploring transportation justice in Portland and across the country.

Register for the event here. 

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The ACLU of Maine will be closed from August 8 - 11 to give our staff a chance to recharge and enjoy the magic of summer in Maine. We'll be back on August 11 to continue our work!

This blog was originally published by the ACLU of NJ on July 30, 2025.

As announced in a letter from the Department of Defense, the Trump administration plans to use Fort Dix, the U.S. Army post that is part of the tri-service Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, to detain immigrants. The South Jersey military base will hold up to 3,000 beds for use by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

With this expansion to Fort Dix, New Jersey continues to be an epicenter of President Trump’s mass deportation agenda. Earlier this year, Delaney Hall, the largest detention facility on the East Coast, opened in Newark, which already multiplied the detention capacity in New Jersey four times over.

The Trump administration’s mass detention apparatus is unprecedented, and employing military resources to detain noncitizens is not normal. The government is pouring money into incarcerating our neighbors, with the most recent federal budget bill funneling $75 billion to ICE for enforcement and detention, often lining the pockets of private prison executives at the expense of humanity, equality, and decency. We can – and must – work to end the criminalization of the immigration system and the mass detention of immigrant communities.

Turning military bases into massive tent detention sites is not only unnecessary and costly; it’s another dehumanizing spectacle designed to intimidate all of us and deprive those detained of their rights. And it diverts important resources needed for military readiness.

It has been widely documented by Congress, oversight agencies, physicians, journalists, advocates, and whistleblowers that the immigration detention system is rife with abuse, dangerous conditions, and medical neglect. And studies have shown that community-based alternatives to detention save taxpayers money and yield better results when it comes to appearing in court. Because Fort Dix is a military base, its operating methods are likely to make the frightening reality of immigration detention in New Jersey even worse.

Our leaders must hold the Trump administration accountable: the ACLU of New Jersey calls on members of Congress to speak out against the inhumane use of military bases as immigration detention centers and to exercise their oversight authority at any such facilities.

Expanding immigration detention to military facilities sets a dangerous precedent for coopting military resources for internal law enforcement and is contrary to everything our nation was created to represent. As the Trump administration’s extreme immigration agenda continues to threaten our communities, the ACLU-NJ will continue to dedicate ourselves to defending the fundamental freedoms of our democracy for all.