The American people appear to be signaling that they will not be divided or sit quietly as President Donald Trump’s executive order temporarily barring entry to refugees and citizens of seven majority Muslim countries goes into effect.
According to CNN Money, the American Civil Liberties Union has received six times as much money over one weekend as it normally does in a year, following a flurry of donations that came the same weekend the organization and its allies successfully challenged sections of Trump’s travel ban in court.
In a year, the group normally receives about $4 million in online donations. Over the weekend, the group racked up some $24,164,691 from more than 350,000 people, many of whom had never previously donated.
Several celebrities, among other high-profile individuals, took to social media to encourage their followers to support the ACLU, with some taking it a step further and saying that they’d match some donations.
According to CNN, membership rolls for the ACLU have already been on the uptick, partially as a reaction to Trump’s presidency. And thanks to the new outpouring of money, the group now plans to increase its staff in preparation for more challenges.
“Our nation is a nation of immigrants,” Anthony Romero, executive director of the ACLU, said on CNN on Sunday. “We have welcomed refugees to our shores. Refugees in particular are among the most vulnerable individuals, and the idea that we would try to shut them out because of the fearmongering, the xenophobia that President Trump has now engaged in, we find very troubling.”
Read more at CNN Money.