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11-25-2025 9:18am

Holiday Conversation Guide

DEFEND THE RIGHTS OF ALL PEOPLE NATIONWIDE.

Dreading the holiday dinner table? Our experts provide advice to help you navigate the trickiest conversations.

With immigrant rights, trans justice, reproductive freedom, and more at risk, we’re in courts and communities across the country to protect everyone’s rights — and we need you with us. 

Pass the yams and the politically-fraught chatter, everyone — it’s that time of year again. 

We know many of us will find ourselves gathering around tables this holiday season with a wide range of folks in our lives — loved ones, friends, chosen family, and the family you'd only choose to spend one day a year with. We also know not everyone in our lives will agree on the issues that we so firmly believe in. Trust us, we get how challenging those conversations can be. That’s why our experts put together a guide to help you navigate some of the issues that are most likely to get brought up at the holiday dinner table: free speech, abuse of power, immigrants’ rights, federal law enforcement and military deployments, and trans justice. The ACLU’s Holiday Conversation Guide 

Free Speech and Abuse of Power

For the tuned-out: Show why you should care 

Right now, attacks on free speech are at an all-time high – but unless you’ve personally been impacted, it’s easy to feel like this is a distant or theoretical issue. The truth is, we’re in the midst of the worst assault on our First Amendment rights in recent memory, where the Trump administration is abusing its power in an effort to silence opposition and stifle our right to speak out. But when we fight back against the administration’s abuse of power, we can protect the right to free speech. 

  • The Trump administration responded to mass protests on college campuses last year by detaining immigrant students and scholars who spoke out, threatening students’ immigration status, and trying to coerce schools into changing their admissions policies to control the viewpoints of admitted students.
  • Government agencies have been punishing news organizations that act independently. Reporters at the Pentagon have been instructed not to report certain news that has not been approved by the Department of Defense – and have had their access to Pentagon briefings threatened if they don’t agree to comply. The ACLU filed an amicus brief in a lawsuit filed by the Associated Press, which was kicked out of the White House press pool simply for sticking to their established naming convention for the “Gulf of Mexico” rather than the president’s preferred “Gulf of America.”
  • The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) threatened ABC’s broadcasting licenses – essentially saying they’d take ABC off the air if they didn’t censor Jimmy Kimmel for making comments the administration didn’t like. In response, Jimmy Kimmel was temporarily pulled from the air.

Countering misinformation: Emphasize facts and shared values

  • Protests against the Trump administration’s abuses and policies have been overwhelmingly peaceful. The First Amendment protects the right to organize and protest peacefully, and law enforcement can’t break up a gathering simply because a few people have broken the law.
  • Sending military troops and armed law enforcement officers into our cities doesn’t make us safer – it escalates tensions and makes dangerous situations more likely. In certain cases, we’ve witnessed police using pepper spray and other drastic, unnecessary measures against peaceful protesters.
  • The government can't pressure private companies to censor speech the government doesn’t like. The FCC can’t threaten private companies with retaliation to force them to deplatform people expressing opinions the administration disagrees with.
  • The government can’t push colleges to punish or expel students based on their constitutionally-protected protests. And the president can’t baselessly target and investigate organizations for supporting or platforming lawful speech.

Aware but feeling hopeless: A toolkit to get engaged

Federal Law Enforcement and Military Deployments 

For the tuned-out: Show why you should care 

President Trump has deployed thousands of federal law enforcement agents and military troops in cities across the country using false justifications to try to disguise his actions. But we see them for what they are: an effort to expand his power and scare people who might oppose his policies. If your loved ones don’t live in one of the targeted cities, they may not realize just how much these federal deployments directly endanger civil rights, chill dissent, and fuel fear – particularly for immigrants, protestors, people of color, and other targeted communities. Military troops do not belong on our streets and should not be used to police civilians – period. 

  • Deploying military troops and armed federal agents into our cities makes people afraid to go about their daily lives. We’ve seen community members getting tear-gassed for recording law enforcement activity; kids too scared to go to school; and local businesses closing instead of putting their customers at risk. The Trump administration wants to sow fear, but we won’t let him intimidate us.
  • Military troops are generally not trained for crowd control, de-escalation, or the delicate task of community policing. Telling the military to police civilians creates legal and ethical risks for troops, puts residents in danger of having their rights violated, and destroys the public's trust in a nonpartisan military.
  • These abusive deployments are costly to us, the American people. The administration’s National Guard and federal troop activations have already cost taxpayers more than $473 million. But we know what works: investing in communities, not militarizing them.
  • No matter what uniform they wear, armed federal agents and military troops must respect the Constitution. If troops or federal agents violate these boundaries, they and their leadership could be exposed to legal consequences. Military troops are also generally prohibited from acting as civilian law enforcement under the Posse Comitatus Act.

Countering misinformation: Emphasize facts and shared values

  • We all deserve an America where people are safe in their neighborhoods, are free to speak their minds, and are able to live without fear of government retaliation, not one where military troops and federal police are turned against the communities they are supposed to protect.
  • This is not what the National Guard is meant to be used for. State National Guard troops should be reserved for genuine emergencies, not deployed to communities, which may be hundreds of miles away from their homes, families, and civilian jobs, to suit the president’s political whims.
  • All of us are less safe when masked agents are roaming our streets in unmarked vans to conduct immigration enforcement arrests without warrants. These secret police-like forces are wreaking havoc on our communities: smashing car windows, throwing people to the ground, forcing people into unmarked black vans, and refusing to explain who they are. This doesn’t make us safer – it only creates fear.
  • We still have rights. No matter what uniform they wear, armed federal agents and military troops must respect the Constitution. If troops or federal agents violate these boundaries, they and their leadership could be exposed to legal consequences. Military troops are also generally prohibited from acting as civilian law enforcement under the Posse Comitatus Act.

Aware but feeling hopeless: A toolkit to get engaged

  • The Trump administration is relying on people being too scared to resist these cruel deployments. But when we turn intimidation into momentum, we change the calculus. We are not powerless – and it’s more important than ever that we keep building community, protesting lawfully, and speaking out against abuses.
  • Join People Power to learn more about Know Your Rights trainings, upcoming protests and rallies, and future volunteer opportunities.
  • Learn more about your rights when encountering law enforcement and military troops in your city.

Immigrants' Rights For the tuned-out: Show why you should care 

President Trump is deploying masked deportation agents in our communities – and it's hurting all of us. Parents are being thrown to the ground and torn from their toddlers, food delivery drivers are being attacked on our streets, and people are afraid to go about their daily lives. Help your friends and family understand exactly what the Trump administration is doing and how it threatens all our civil liberties. 

  • President Trump’s immigration policies have been far crueler and more extreme than any in living memory. Mass, indiscriminate raids, detention camps, and masked immigration enforcement are wreaking havoc on our communities.
  • On his very first day in office, President Trump issued an executive order seeking to end the constitutionally-guaranteed right to birthright citizenship. Though the order has been blocked by the courts, families are still afraid and unsure about what this means for their children’s future.
  • Masked deportation forces are smashing car windows, throwing people to the ground, forcing people in unmarked black vans, and refusing to explain who they are. They are arresting our neighbors and loved ones – and in too many cases, denying them access to lawyers and the ability to fight for their right to stay here.
  • At the same time, President Trump and his allies in Congress have conspired to supercharge ICE’s budget to fuel the most extreme expansion of immigration detention in our nation’s history. As a result, billions of our taxpayer dollars are being used to fuel ICE’s pattern of abuse, medical neglect, and cruelty against detained people.
  • People who are immigrants contribute to our communities and our economy, and they deserve to be met with respect and dignity, not detention or deportation.

Countering misinformation: Emphasize facts and shared values

  • Regardless of their immigration status or how they came to the United States, immigrants have certain guaranteed rights under the Constitution that the Trump administration must respect.
  • The Trump administration is using fear to justify cruelty – claiming to keep Americans safe while tearing apart families and ignoring the law. Real safety comes from strong communities built on trust – from fair laws, protected rights, and knowing your neighbor, parent, or friend won’t disappear overnight, simply because of their immigration status.
  • Under the current system, immigrants, including those with legal status, are held for long periods of time, sometimes several years, without any proof that they pose a danger to society or a flight risk. Many immigrants are held in for-profit private facilities with sordid conditions without access to proper hygiene products, medical care, or even access to their lawyers. Dozens have died in detention due to inadequate medical care and a lack of minimal standards and oversight.

Aware but feeling hopeless: A toolkit to get engaged

  • Get involved with your local community organizing groups. They’ll know the most urgent needs in your neighborhood, whether it’s filming ICE activity, raising money for legal defense funds, or helping your neighbors’ children get safely to school.

Trans Justice For the tuned-out: Show why you should care

The Trump administration and their political allies are doing everything they can to push transgender people out of public life, including limiting access to vital travel documents like passports, defunding schools that protect transgender students from harassment, censoring any mention of transgender people across the federal government, and coercing doctors into dropping their transgender patients. The time to be loud in defense of trans people is now – and talking to your loved ones about what’s at stake is the first step. 

  • On his first day in office, President Trump signed an executive order attempting to deny accurate passports to hundreds of thousands of transgender, non-binary, and intersex Americans, who rely on accurate identity documents to travel with safety, privacy, and dignity. The administration’s discriminatory policy requiring that passports bear only a person’s sex designation assigned at birth threatens all of us, setting a dangerous precedent that the government can dictate our identities.
  • Politicians across the country have passed laws that criminalize and ban access to gender-affirming health care for trans people – particularly targeting trans youth and their families. Congress is considering a national ban on gender-affirming medical care, and the Trump administration has waged a campaign of intimidation against providers of gender-affirming care for trans youth. Any decision about this health care should stay between families and their medical providers, not politicians
  • While most states have fewer than a handful of transgender students, politicians have introduced hundreds of bills over the last few years targeting their ability to play school sports. Next year, the Supreme Court will hear the ACLU’s challenge against a state law that categorically bans transgender students from girls’ teams. Politicians are hoping to use the case to legitimize a broad range of discrimination against transgender people – and all LGBTQ people.

Countering misinformation: Emphasize facts and shared values

  • Gender-affirming medical care is evidence-based medical care for transgender people supported by doctors that allows transgender people to live consistent with their gender identity. All gender-affirming care is medication or other medical care that non-transgender people also receive; the estrogen that transgender women and girls rely on is no different than the estrogen that millions of cisgender women and girls rely on. If the government can come in and declare that a group of people can’t access necessary medical care because of their identity, it’s not going to stop with transgender people.
  • Excluding trans women athletes hurts all women. These bans encourage gender policing, which could force any woman – trans or cis – accused of being “too masculine” or “too good” at their sport to be a “real” woman to submit to invasive tests. These bans also reinforce stereotypes that women are weak, in need of protection, and less capable athletes.

Aware but feeling hopeless: A toolkit to get engaged

  • President Trump’s policies rely on individuals to police each other's gender in public spaces, like restrooms, health care offices, and sports teams. We can resist their power by refusing to engage in the type of surveillance and control over our bodies that allows them to build the type of government they want.
  • Our power grows when we are in solidarity with each other – and trans people deserve the freedom to be loved, safe, and in control of our own health care decisions.

We hope this guide helps you have productive conversations this holiday season. If you're looking for more ways to celebrate with your loved ones, consider giving the gift of an ACLU membership. And if the conversation wasn't as productive as you hoped, well, you can always make a gift to defend their constitutional right to free speech in their honor! 

Donate to the ACLU The ACLU has been at the center of nearly every major civil liberties battle in the U.S. for more than 100 years. This vital work depends on the support of ACLU members in all 50 states and beyond. We need you with us to keep fighting — donate today. Contributions to the ACLU are not tax deductible.

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