Devon Chaffee is the executive director of the ACLU of New Hampshire.

Alongside a new year, 2025 will usher in a new Trump administration, a time that will represent a clear and present danger to our country’s democratic processes and institutions and the threat of an assault on our civil rights.

The 2025 political landscape will look like this: on Jan. 20, Donald Trump will become president for the second time and here in New Hampshire, we will have a “trifecta” government with Kelly Ayotte as governor and Republican control of both the state House and Senate.

Many in the Granite State are understandably fearful of the impact of the Trump campaign’s rhetoric and promises regarding immigrants, transgender youth, unhoused individuals, and the many diverse and marginalized communities across New Hampshire. They are also worried how such promises will be incorporated into policies taken up in Concord, especially given not just the trifecta, but wider majorities in both the state Senate and House.

At the ACLU, we’ve been here before and we are ready. We are clear-eyed about the reality, and we have a plan for when this new administration tries to introduce unspeakably cruel proposals threatening the civil rights we hold most dear.

During Trump’s first term, the nationwide ACLU filed 434 legal challenges against his administration, successfully blocking some of his most egregious policies, like separating immigrant families and putting a citizenship question on the U.S. Census.

And in the last year alone, the ACLU of New Hampshire won critical cases protecting the rights of LGBTQ+ Granite Staters and ensuring free speech for educators, while also challenging insidious laws like HB 1569, which infringes on voting rights and pathways to the ballot box.

While we look forward to working with our new governor, all incoming legislators, and all local and state lawmakers to ensure every Granite Stater’s right to liberty, justice, and equality, we aren’t afraid to stand and fight if those values are not upheld.

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While campaigning, Governor-elect Ayotte emphatically pledged that she would not allow any additional bans, restrictions, or continued erosion of abortion rights in New Hampshire. This promise is more important than ever because anti-abortion bills will be filed and taken up by the New Hampshire legislature in January.

These bills can include things like stringent bans, incursions on our medical privacy, or ridiculous rules and requirements. The vast majority of Granite Staters have made clear time and again that they support abortion rights, and we’ll be watching closely and holding all lawmakers accountable.

Another cornerstone of Governor-elect Ayotte’s campaign was immigration, and with fearmongering and xenophobic rhetoric at an all-time high in this country, we must make clear that such vitriol is against the fabric of who we are in New Hampshire. Immigrants are an indispensable part of our communities across New Hampshire. They are us, they are our parents, they are our friends and family, they are our co-workers and the many friendly faces we see in school, on the street, and at our grocery store.

We know that under the Trump administration, we will see merciless proposals and acts directed at immigrants. Trump confirmed last month that he intends to declare a national emergency and use the U.S. military to implement his plans for mass deportations.

We must ready ourselves that what’s on the horizon will change the very nature of American life for many of us.

At the same time, we ask Governor-elect Ayotte to commit to an immigration policy that is fair, humane, and based in fact, and to use all tools possible to ensure that Granite Staters are protected against blatant constitutional violations.

We also urge her, along with all state lawmakers, to listen to New Hampshire’s very own diverse immigrant voices and other Granite Staters who have made clear that the state-level policies proposed in recent years to force local law enforcement to target immigrant communities would make our state less, not more, safe.

Alongside abortion rights and immigration, we must continue to fight for all our civil rights: from protecting our democracy, to LGBTQ+ rights, to criminal law reform, and much more. These are the times in which, and for which, the ACLU was made more than a century ago.

Just like we have been for 105 years nationwide and 56 years in New Hampshire, the ACLU, along with our over a million members nationwide and thousands of members across the state, will continue to be a fearless defender of our constitutional freedoms determined to make our country a more perfect union.