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Celebrities Offer to Match ACLU, CAIR Donations to Fight Immigration Restrictions

A few stars are putting their money where their mouths are in combatting the White House Immigration crackdown

As witnessed by Sunday's Screen Actor's Guild Awards, celebrities have lined up in condemnation of President Trump's immigration crackdown that led to chaos at airports across the country over the weekend. A few celebrities are going a step further — putting their wallets where their mouths are.

Musicians Sia and Claire Elise Boucher (who goes by the stage name Grimes) took to social media over the weekend saying they would match donations to the ACLU and CAIR respectively in light of recent immigration actions by the White House. Other celebrities followed suit. Rosie O'Donnell and director Judd Apatow soon joined in saying they would also match ACLU donations up to $100,000. 

While the ACLU may see a flush of donations from the immigrant ban, one unexpected victim may be Uber. Several celebrities made a point of striking out against the company after Uber drivers continued picking up passengers at JFK in New York Sunday in the midst of an hour-long strike by the New York Taxi Workers Alliance. The strike was called for in solidarity with the detained immigrants.

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick later responded he had no intention of his company breaking the strike. Kalanick said the immigration ban could potentially affect thousands of Uber drivers who come from the listed countries, "many of whom take long breaks to go back home to see their extended family. These drivers currently outside of the U.S. will not be able to get back into the country for 90 days." Kalanick said Uber would be looking to identify those drivers and compensate them pro bono during the next three months to help mitigate some of the financial stress.

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