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Sia promises to match donations up to $100,000 to help ‘queer and immigrant friends’

By Samuel McManus

Sia has put her money where her mouth in the fight against Donald Trump after pledging to match donations up to $100,000 (£79,800) to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which is currently fighting the US President’s newly imposed migration ban.

The US singer took to Twitter on Saturday (January 28) to urge her fans to help “our queer & immigrant friends” currently affected by Trump’s 90-day ban on nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries entering the United States and indefinite pause on admitting refugees from Syria.

The ACLU filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on Saturday on behalf of two men who had been detained at New York’s John F. Kennedy airport and threatened with deportation.

Taking to Twitter, Sia told fans that if they donated to the human rights charity and sent her their receipts she would match their generosity dollar for dollar.

“help our queer & immigrant friends. send me your donation receipts for the @aclu & I will match up to $100K”, wrote the 41-year-old star, whose video for recent single ‘The Greatest’ was created as a tribute to the victims killed in last June’s massacre at Pulse nightclub in Orlando.

The ‘Cheap Thrills’ singer’s pledge quickly found support from stars including fun. guitarist and musician Jack Antonoff, who revealed he planned to donate $20,000, and Bridesmaids director Judd Apatow, who tweeted Sia to tell her he was “in”.

Donald Trump’s temporary ban on migration from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen – including for those with joint citizenship travelling from those countries – has drawn widespread condemnation from around the world.

An open petition calling for the cancellation of the US president’s planned state visit to the UK later this year has already amassed almost 1.2 million signatures, with MPs set to discuss the measure on Tuesday.

You can donate to the American Civil Liberties Union here.

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