ACLU receives $24M in donations this weekend

Online gifts surged 6 times normal rate after inauguration.

In the weeks after the Nov. 8 election, when Donald Trump secured a surprise victory to become president of the United States, the American Civil Liberties Union received so much money in online donations more than $15 million - that an official with the 100-yearold organization called the flood “unprecedented in our history.”

That was before Trump had even sworn the oath of office.

Eleven days ago he did just that, then spent his first week as president signing executive orders and making good on some of his campaign promises, spurring massive protests across the country and the world — about women’s rights, the environment and what Trump calls his “extreme vetting” of travelers to the U.S. from seven predominantly Muslim nations.

Amid the swift and intense backlash, the ACLU seems once again to be benefiting directly.

This weekend alone, the civil liberties group received more than $24 million in online donations from 356,306 people, a spokesman told The Washington Post early Monday morning, a total that supersedes its annual online donations by six times.

In an interview with CNN, the ACLU had a one-word reaction: “Wow.”

Before the donations had soared to $24 million, Anthony Romero, ACLU executive director, told Yahoo News he was blown away by the influx.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Romero told Yahoo News. “People are fired up and want to be engaged. What we’ve seen is an unprecedented public reaction to the challenges of the Trump administration.”

The money flowed in from the pockets of people who had never donated before, CNN reported, but it also came from big names in Hollywood, who spent the weekend tweeting that they would match donations up to tens of thousands of dollars and who were called upon at the Screen Actors Guild Awards to give to the ACLU.

“I would like to make a plea for everyone, if they can, any money they have to spare please donate to the ACLU,” actress Sarah Paulson, who was honored for her role in “The People V. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story,” said to applause during her acceptance speech. “To protect the rights and liberties of people across this country, it’s a vital organization that relies entirely on our support.”

It was a lawsuit filed by the ACLU Friday night that prompted a New York federal judge 24 hours later to halt the deportations of people from seven predominantly Muslim countries who had been detained at U.S. airports following a Trump executive order that targeted them.

Ride-sharing company Lyft announced a $1 million donation, to be paid out over the next four years, to the ACLU.

“This weekend, Trump closed the country’s borders to refugees, immigrants, and even documented residents from around the world based on their country of origin,” Lyft wrote in an email to customers.