On his first day back in the White House, President Donald Trump issued an executive order to limit birthright citizenship, a constitutional right in place for more than a century. Then came the foreign-aid cuts, which left mothers and children around the world without emergency medical care. The ICE raids soon followed, hollowing out homes across the country; parents and caregivers vanished in an instant. Simultaneously came a ban on books, gender-affirming care, and reproductive healthcare. Meanwhile, issues such as affordable childcare, paid leave, and improvements to the education system are nowhere on the agenda—illuminating the fact that this legal assault on families is not affecting just a select few. An alarming number of people are at risk.
But if Trump’s presidency began by throwing down the gauntlet on families, it may end with mothers leading the fight to defend them. Their resistance stretches from federal courthouses to soccer-field sidelines, from late-night strategy sessions at the kitchen table to early-morning school runs. They rush from daycare drop-offs to court hearings, file motions between doctor’s appointments, and spend their days fighting to protect families, all while holding together their own. Here, the mothers who are pulling second (and third) shifts as attorneys and activists reflect on the challenges they face, what the fight against these policies has been like, and what motivates them to keep putting in the work.
