Lyft’s Jewish Co-Founder Donates $1 Million to ACLU to Fight Immigration Ban

Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky

By Daniel J. Solomon January 30, 2017

The American Civil Liberties Union received $24 million in donations this past weekend after President Donald Trump announced a temporary ban on immigration from 7 majority-Muslim countries. A whole $1 million of that sum — 6 times what the ACLU typically gathers in online donations over the course of a year — is from Lyft, the taxi app.

“Banning people of a particular faith or creed, race or identity, sexuality or ethnicity, from entering the U.S. is antithetical to both Lyft’s and our nation’s core values,” co-founders Logan Green and John Zimmer wrote, explaining their gift in a letter e-mailed to customers after the executive order. “We stand firmly against these actions, and will not be silent on issues that threaten the values of our community.”

The donation will also heighten the contrast between Lyft and its rival Uber, which drew criticism from customers when it continued to service John F. Kennedy Airport in New York, during a Saturday cab strike in solidarity with travelers detained there.

Its chief executive has also caught flack for taking a seat on a business advisory council for the new president, leading for calls to #deleteUber to trend on Twitter.

Contact Daniel J. Solomon at [email protected] or on Twitter @DanielJSolomon

Daniel J. Solomon is the former Assistant to the Editor/News Writer at the Forward. Originally from Queens, he attended Harvard as an undergraduate, where he wrote his senior thesis on French-Jewish intellectual history. He is excited to have returned to New York after his time in Massachusetts. Daniel’s passions include folk music, cycling, and pointed argument.