Donald Trump has promised a “Golden Age for America” during his second term, and has issued a slew of executive orders to make that promise a reality.
The president has announced numerous goals aimed at abolishing birthright citizenship and cracking down on illegal border crossings at the southern border, increasing domestic energy production, and transforming a federal government that he considers too bloated and “too woke.” signed orders and directives.
It’s unclear whether any of President Trump’s executive actions will have an immediate impact or are merely symbolic. But they are already facing challenges. Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency filed the lawsuit hours before President Trump signed the document. Some of his more controversial orders, including one targeting birthright citizenship, also quickly faced legal challenges. Additionally, in his inaugural address, President Trump promised to create an “External Revenue Service” to collect customs duties and revenues from foreign countries, but the creation of the new agency would require approval from Congress.
Let’s take a look at what President Trump signed on his first day and what he’s done since then.
January 6th pardon
President Trump has pardoned nearly 1,500 people involved in the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, fulfilling a campaign promise and reversing years of Justice Department efforts. It became.
immigration
President Trump signed a slew of executive orders on Monday aimed at enforcing his long-promised crackdown on illegal border crossings and immigration more broadly. He also declared a national emergency on the U.S.-Mexico border and sent U.S. troops to the area.
He intends to end birthright citizenship by filing an administrative lawsuit that reinterprets the 14th Amendment, which grants citizenship to all people born in the country. The move prompted swift legal challenges, including from Democratic attorneys general.
Trump also made the following moves:
- resume construction of border wall
- Stop so-called catch and release
- Suspend resettlement of refugees from certain countries for at least four months
- Resuming the “remain in Mexico” policy of the first term
- Use Section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act to limit asylum
- Designate drug cartels and gangs as foreign terrorist organizations and invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to eliminate them. Or, as he said in his inaugural address, “Eliminate the entire presence of foreign gangs and criminal networks that bring devastating crime to the American continent.”
- Directs the next Attorney General to seek the death penalty for killings of law enforcement and capital crimes committed by illegal immigrants.
energy
President Trump wants “drill, baby, drill.” he intends to do it by Declaring a “national energy emergency” That would give him the power to increase domestic energy production and undo many of the Biden administration’s clean energy policies. The White House also announced that the United States will once again withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement.
Other moves President Trump is planning include:
- Trump team issues memorandum detailing whole-of-government approach to curbing inflation
- Ending what his team called the “electric vehicle mandate”
- Ending leases to large wind farms that “degrade the natural landscape and fail to serve U.S. energy consumers.”
federal employee
Want to work remotely? Good luck. President Trump last night signed executive orders focused on federal employees, including one directing all U.S. government departments to require employees to return to offices and eliminate remote work. was. President Trump also announced a hiring freeze across the executive branch, except in “critical areas.”
The president also lifted job protections for tens of thousands of government workers, which the White House said was necessary to rein in the bureaucracy that Trump calls the “deep state.”
Other moves President Trump is planning include:
- Eliminate “radical and wasteful” diversity training programs, environmental justice programs, equity-related subsidies, and equity initiatives
- The White House says it will freeze hiring in all but critical sectors to “stop the onslaught of unwanted and overpaid DEI activists buried within the federal workforce.”
- Freeze the issuance of new regulations
- Institutions that directly address the “cost of living crisis”
- Restore “freedom of speech” and “prevention of government censorship”
- Establishment of the “Government Efficiency Bureau”
health
Incoming administration officials said during his speech that the White House would encourage the State Department, Department of Homeland Security and other agencies to remove “non-binary” and “other” options from federal documents such as passports and visas. He said he would instruct.
President Trump said, “It will be official U.S. government policy that there are only two genders: male and female.”
He also signed an executive order removing the United States from the World Health Organization.
Other moves President Trump is planning include:
- Reinstate service members penalized for not getting COVID-19 vaccinations
trade
President Trump has not yet imposed new tariffs. Instead, he issued an order Monday directing federal agencies to investigate and address trade deficits and unfair trade and currency practices.
Other moves President Trump is planning include:
- Imposing 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada on February 1st (despite promising to enact these broad tariffs on day one)
- Establishment of the “External Revenue Agency” for the purpose of collecting customs duties, etc. from foreign countries
rest
- Extends deadline for selling or banning TikTok, a measure of questionable legality
- Suspend U.S. foreign aid programs for 90 days pending review of whether they are consistent with the president’s policies
- Gulf of Mexico to be renamed Gulf of America – reversing Obama-era change and also reverting Alaska’s Denali to Mount McKinley
