Twitter users are donating like mad to the ACLU after Trump’s immigration ban

Sia performs on the Virgin Media Stage during the V Festival at Hylands Park in Chelmsford, Essex.

Image: PA Wire/Press Association Images

The ACLU successfully argued for a halt to deportations across the United States on Saturday after an executive order issued by President Donald Trump on Friday caused chaos for immigrants from seven Muslim-majority nations.

Even before the stay was granted by a federal judge in Brooklyn, celebrities began calling for donations to the ACLU, starting with Sia, who said she will match donations up to $100,000.

The immigration ban, which resulted in detentions of immigrants at airports around the United States and protests at many of those same airports, also targeted legal U.S. residents from Syria, Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Sudan, Libya and Somalia who were out of the U.S. at the time of the ban, as well as those who have dual citizenship in one of those nations.

Sia promised to match donations to the ACLU, and others followed.

Others were doing the same even before Sia tweeted her promise, and the effect spread far past celebrities who are household names.

Lyft, the ride-sharing company, also pledged $1 million to the ACLU over the next four years.

“Banning people of a particular faith or creed, race or identity, sexuality or ethnicity from entering the U.S. is antithetical to both Lyft’s and the nation’s core values,” the co-founders wrote in an emailed statement.

The response struck a contrasting chord with Lyft’s rival, Uber, which was accused of “strike breaking” on Saturday. Uber drivers continued to pick up passengers from New York City’s John F. Kennedy airport after the New York Taxi Workers Alliance called for a one-hour ban on pick-ups from the airport as a form of protest against the immigration ban. In response, #DeleteUber began to spread across social media.

Not the best day for Uber, but seems a solid day for the ACLU.

BONUS: ACLU Releases App That Lets You Police the Police

Read more: http://mashable.com/2017/01/29/aclu-donations-sia-celebrities/

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