Firewall for Freedom

Threat 

Trump has promised to use totalitarian tactics to carry out the largest mass detention and deportation program in the nation’s history, targeting children and families and dismantling our nation’s asylum protection system. Past experience shows that his proposed policies will lead to people being stopped, arrested, or detained simply because they look or sound “foreign,” which in practice will target Black and Brown communities. These sweeping policies will result in disruption to communities, families, and the economy, and will almost certainly lead to the erroneous deportation of people with lawful status, including U.S. citizens. Trump has also vowed to reinstate family separation at the border — a cruel policy the ACLU blocked during his first presidency. 

In North Carolina, we have already seen the introduction of anti-immigrant legislation like HB10, which forces local law enforcement to enforce federal immigration laws. In 2024, voters approved a misleading constitutional amendment which changed the language in the NC state constitution to further emphasize citizenship requirements for voting. Since applicable law already required that voters in federal and state elections be U.S. citizens, this amendment was solely intended to emphasize anti-immigrant rhetoric and sow confusion about whether naturalized citizens may vote—even though naturalized citizens have the right to vote under the U.S. constitution. 

Response 

In the face of Trump’s promises of deportation schemes, we will be working closely with our statewide immigrant rights partners to educate communities on how to exercise their rights when faced with immigration enforcement. We will also advocate with elected officials to reverse North Carolina’s anti-immigration policies and ensure North Carolina resources are used for state priorities that actually benefit our communities, not on federal immigration enforcement.  

As we move forward in the 2025 legislative session, it is crucial to reshape public opinion in North Carolina to defeat anti-immigrant proposals. To that end, we, along with Just Futures Law, Student Action with Farm Workers, and Carolina Migrant Network, have curated a narrative campaign called “The Faces of North Carolina.” This campaign features stories from North Carolinians aimed at countering the harmful anti-immigrant rhetoric that plagues our airwaves, legislature, and communities. Our immigrants' rights work strives to expand perspectives, foster empathy, and build stronger communities that are welcoming of immigrants.   

In response to misleading messaging suggesting that immigrants who vote could face deportation, we led a counter-message campaign that affirmed that all naturalized citizens have the right to vote and encouraged them to do so. This campaign included developing bilingual yard signs, billboards, and digital advertisements targeting Spanish-speaking people over the age of 18. Next year, in response to misinformation surrounding the recent constitutional amendment, we plan to continue education efforts to reassure naturalized citizens of their right to vote. 

Read More 

• Protecting Immigrants' Rights
• We Have Rights page on how to handle encounters with ICE
• Tell the Trump Administration: No Mass Deportations

Threat

In 2020, the Trump administration threatened to use force to quell protests and deployed federal agents and National Guard troops to arrest and use excessive force against protestors and journalists. In Trump’s second term, such abuses are likely to escalate. Trump has already indicated that his administration would consider invoking the Insurrection Act of 1807 to deploy the military to America’s cities — potentially targeting those with large BIPOC and immigrant communities — to suppress the rights of protesters and journalists.  

In response to Black Lives Matter and pro-Palestine protests, we have seen North Carolina lawmakers try to restrict protestor rights by instituting legislation that imposes heightened penalties and restrictions for individuals wearing masks while protesting in public and for those obstructing traffic during protests. These provisions also include granting police officers broad authority to detain people wearing masks for medical reasons and order them to remove their masks. North Carolina legislators also pushed forward HB40, an overbroad bill which significantly increases criminal penalties for protesting and raised concerns that peaceful protestors could face severe criminal charges.  

Legislators also passed the SHALOM Act, which conflates antisemitism with any criticism of the government of Israel, targeting protected political speech from pro-Palestine protesters. Lastly, a proposed state budget passed by the House in June included language that would make it harder for prosecutors to dismiss charges resulting from protest arrests, further chilling first amendment rights to free speech. 

Response 

Our efforts resulted in several successful defenses of first amendment and protesters’ rights in 2023. In response to the General Assembly’s passage of HB40, the anti-rioting bill, we responded with a lawsuit contending that multiple provisions of the law, including overbroad and vague provisions that could apply to protestors whose own conduct is entirely peaceful and would dissuade people from engaging in lawful protest activities. Our lawsuit forced the legislature to remove some of the bill’s most blatantly unconstitutional language. While a court upheld the remainder of the law, it emphasized that the law cannot be applied to individuals who are merely bystanders and who do not directly participate in violent conduct.  

After we raised concerns about harmful provisions in the anti-masking bill, legislators included language providing that people may continue to wear masks for health reasons. When North Carolina universities retaliated against campus protesters, we sent a letter to UNC’s representatives flagging that the administration had taken discriminatory, unconstitutional action against students espousing political speech. We also provided Know Your Rights information for student protesters.  

As we prepare for future attacks on political dissent, we plan to continue to use every tool at our disposal to protect first amendment rights in North Carolina. 

Read More 

• HB40 Complaint  
• Open Letter to Colleges and Universities

Threat

The first Trump administration initiated a sustained, years-long effort to erase protections for LGBTQ people. This included an effort to “define ‘transgender’ out of existence,” erode protections for transgender students and workers, and weaken access to gender-affirming health care that most transgender people already struggled to access. The second Trump administration will likely continue to target the LGBTQ community, particularly transgender people. Trump has already vowed to dismantle a previous administration policy providing protections for transgender students under Title IX, a federal civil rights law that prohibits sex discrimination in education. 

In North Carolina, we have seen an orchestrated attempt to attack transgender rights. In 2023, the General Assembly voted to override Governor Cooper’s veto on three anti-transgender bills.  

• HB 574 prohibits trans women and girls from participating on middle school, high school, and even college sports teams that align with their gender identity.  
• HB 808 prohibits medical professionals from performing gender-affirming surgery on minors or prescribing puberty blockers or hormone therapy to minors. There is an exception for minors who have already been receiving treatment to continue with parent permission. 
• SB 49 requires public schools to inform parents when students ask to go by different names or pronouns than what is in official school records. This bill also bans instruction on gender identity, sexual activity, and sexuality from kindergarten to fourth grade.  

These bills are obvious attempts to further stigmatize LGBTQ identities and push queer and trans people further into the margins. But the LGBTQ community has a long and robust history of community support and advocacy, and we will continue to push back against attempts to limit the visibility and livelihood of queer and trans North Carolinians. 

Response 

Our legal team has been working hard to address instances of discrimination against trans youth, including by exploring the constitutionality of the "Parents Bill of Rights” and instances of book banning at local schools. We have publicly criticized these laws, contending that students have a constitutional right to share or withhold information about their sexual orientation or gender identity from their parents, teachers or other parties. The law undermines children’s safety and is ultimately a part of a national campaign to erase the existence of LGBTQ students and adults.

Several of the bills targeting the LGBTQ community have specifically centered on young students and schools have become a focal point for anti-LGBTQ policies and rhetoric. In response, we launched a Back to School Toolkit with information on navigating the politicization of education. We will update the toolkit with new information as the political landscape continues to shift and we will continue to advocate with elected officials for policies and laws that protect, rather than discriminate, against our trans communities.

To push back against attempts to dehumanize and alienate trans youth, we will soon be launching an animated narrative campaign adapted from collected stories from young trans people in North Carolina. These narratives highlight the lives of trans youth, showcasing what makes them feel accepted and happy, and normalizes their existence as well as our mandate to care for them. We intend to launch a digital ad campaign in January of 2025 directing people to these stories and will also make them available on our website.  

Leading up to the election, we developed a Transgender Voting Guide and distributed it at Pride events across the state. A North Carolina law that has been contested in court requires voters to show a photo ID at the polls, which uniquely impacts those whose name or gender identity/presentation does not match what’s on their ID. The guide explains how trans voters can address this concern and what to do if poll workers are not complying with the law. In the face of increasing political attacks, voting rights for LGBTQ people have only become more critical, and we will work in future elections to ensure all eligible voters have access to the ballot box. 

Read More 

• The State of LGBTQ Rights in NC
• Cleveland County Demand Letter
• Banned Books and the Rise of Censorship

Threat

In 2016, during Trump’s first presidential campaign, he vowed to appoint Supreme Court justices who would overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark ruling that protected abortion access nationwide. Over the course of his presidency, he did just that – appointing three of the six Supreme Court justices who voted to reverse decades of protections for abortion rights. This devastating legacy is clear. Today, anti-abortion politicians in 17 states have banned abortion, leaving millions of people without access to care. With Trump resuming office, this will only be the beginning. Trump’s advisors are already plotting to twist a law from 1873 to effectively ban abortion in all 50 states, even where abortion is protected under state law.  

In 2023, NC lawmakers passed Senate Bill 20, a sweeping abortion ban that severely restricts access to abortion from the earliest stages of pregnancy and bans care after 12 weeks in nearly all circumstances. This was after the North Carolina General Assembly rushed SB20 through both chambers and overrode a veto from Gov. Roy Cooper to put it into law. The law — which was drafted and passed without any opportunity to amend — went into effect on July 1, 2023.  

The recent ban, combined with legislative and legal restrictions in surrounding states, has pushed North Carolina into an abortion access crisis. Last year, 35% of the abortions performed in North Carolina were on patients coming from out of state, leaving clinics overburdened and overwhelmed. While abortion support organizations and volunteers are working tirelessly to ensure that everyone who wants an abortion is able to get one, the truth is that many people are being turned away due to legal restrictions, lack of funds, or other barriers. 

Response 

In 2023, we filed a lawsuit challenging several provisions in the state’s 12-week abortion ban. The lawsuit asked a federal court to review several provisions within the law, including a section limiting access to medication abortion early in pregnancy and another section requiring that abortions performed under exceptions to the 12-week limit take place only in a hospital, and not in a clinic. A federal court blocked the provision on early medication abortion, which will maintain access to early and safe abortion care for numerous patients. However, the court upheld the requirement that abortions after 12 weeks must be provided in a hospital setting, increasing barriers to those with valid exceptions due to rape, incest, or “life-limiting anomaly,” despite a lack of evidence that this restriction serves any medical or safety purpose. This will discourage access for those already facing immense personal, social, and physical barriers to care. 

In addition to taking action in the courts, we deployed communication, education, and organizing strategies to increase advocacy power on this issue throughout the state. Our online abortion guide provides information about how to access abortion in North Carolina and what you can do to help advocate for abortion access. The guide is continually updated as the law changes and new resources become available. 

In August 2024, in anticipation of the election and in response to widespread abortion misinformation and a dire lack of funds for people seeking abortions in North Carolina, we launched an educational campaign on abortion rights and access. The campaign included information on the current abortion access crisis, the impact that recent abortion legislation has had on the state, and how people can get involved to support reproductive freedom. We will continue to educate North Carolinians on the state of abortion access in our state and highlight ways to support those seeking abortion. 

In partnership with Narrative Arts, we produced a short documentary film called North Carolina’s Abortion Story, which explores the history of abortion in North Carolina, the modern movement for reproductive justice, and the impact of abortion bans on patients and providers. We hosted a well-attended premiere event for the film featuring a panel of experts to discuss these issues after the film. We are continuing to work with individuals who want to host their own viewings of the film in their communities.  

Finally, we forged new connections with North Carolina-based businesses who want to support reproductive rights in our state. Supportive business leaders representing 300+ businesses across the state signed on to our Don’t Ban Equality letter, which makes a clear statement to legislators that abortion bans and anti-LGBTQ legislation are bad for North Carolinians and bad for business. These business partners have continued to support our organizing and policy work by hosting events, donating their time and money, and uplifting these important issues through their business brands. Many of our business partners joined us in sponsoring CAROLINADAZE, a music and arts festival hosted by our partner Common Cause that educated North Carolinians on the importance of voting in the 2024 election and raised money for local causes.  

These efforts will continue into the new year as we work closely with our coalition partners to respond to the needs of the moment and advocate for reproductive freedom for all.  

Read More 

• Abortion Conversation Guide
• Election Voter Education Campaign
• Abortion Myth-busting