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Donald Trump is promising a “golden age of America” in his second term and is issuing a series of executive orders to try to make it happen.
The president signed a series of orders and directives aimed at ending birthright citizenship and cracking down on illegal crossings at the southern border, increasing domestic energy production and transforming a federal government that he considers too bloated and too “ woken up.”
It is unclear which of Trump’s executive actions will have an immediate impact or are merely symbolic. But they are already facing challenges. The Department of Government Performance led by Elon Musk filed lawsuits hours before Trump signed documents creating it. Some of his most controversial orders, including one targeting birthright citizenship, also immediately faced legal challenges. And although Trump promised in his inaugural address to create an “External Revenue Service” to collect tariffs and revenue from foreign nations, he will need congressional approval to create the new agency.
Here’s a look at what Trump signed on day one and his executive actions since:
January 6 pardons
Trump pardoned about 1,500 people who were involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, a sweeping grant of clemency that fulfilled a campaign promise and upended years of efforts by the Justice Department.
Immigration
Trump on Monday signed a series of executive orders aimed at fulfilling his promise to crack down on illegal border crossings and immigration in general. He also declared a national emergency on the US-Mexico border and deployed US Armed Forces to the region.
His intention is to end birthright citizenship by issuing an executive action that would reinterpret the 14th Amendment granting citizenship to all people born in the country, a move that generated swift legal challenges, including from Democratic attorneys general. .
Trump also moved toward:
- Border wall construction resumes
- End so-called catch and release
- Temporarily suspend resettlement of refugees from certain countries for at least four months
- He restarts the “Remain in Mexico” policy of his first term
- Restrict asylum using 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act
- Designate drug cartels and gangs as foreign terrorist organizations and invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to eliminate them or, as he put it in his inaugural address, “eliminate the presence of all foreign gangs and criminal networks that bring devastating crimes.” to American soil.”
- Direct the incoming attorney general to seek capital punishment for the murder of law enforcement officers and capital crimes committed by undocumented immigrants.
Energy
Trump wants to “drill, baby, drill.” He will do it for 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 US will withdraw, again, from the Paris Climate Agreement.
Among other measures planned by Trump:
- Issue a memo detailing a government-wide approach to reducing inflation, according to Trump’s team.
- End what his team has called an “electric vehicle mandate”
- End leasing of huge wind farms that “degrade our natural landscapes and do not serve American energy consumers”
federal workforce
Do you want to work remotely? Good luck. Trump last night signed executive orders focused on the federal workforce, including an order instructing all US government departments and agencies to require employees to return to their positions, ending any remote accommodations. Trump also announced a hiring freeze across the executive branch, except in “essential areas.”
The president also eliminated job protections for tens of thousands of government workers, which the White House said were necessary to rein in what Trump describes as the “deep state” bureaucracy.
Among other measures planned by Trump:
- End “radical and wasteful” diversity training programs, as well as environmental justice programs, equity-related grants, and equity initiatives.
- Freeze hiring except in essential areas to “end the onslaught of useless and overpaid DEI activists buried in the federal workforce,” according to the White House.
- Freeze the issuance of new regulations
- Direct agencies to address the “cost of living crisis”
- Restore “freedom of expression” and “avoid government censorship”
- Create the “Department of Government Efficiency”
Health
Trump said in his speech that the White House will direct the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security, as well as other agencies, to remove “non-binary” or “other” options from federal documents, including passports and visas, according to an official in the incoming administration.
“It will officially be the policy of the United States government that there are only two genders: male and female,” Trump said.
He also signed an executive order withdrawing the United States from the World Health Organization.
Among other measures planned by Trump:
- Reintegrate soldiers who were sanctioned for not getting vaccinated against Covid-19
Trade
Trump has not yet enacted new tariffs. Instead, he issued an order Monday directing federal agencies to investigate and address trade deficits and unfair trade and currency practices.
Among other measures planned by Trump:
- Imposing 25 percent tariffs on Mexico and Canada on February 1 (despite pledging to enact these broad tariffs on the first day)
- Establish the “External Revenue Service”, with the objective of collecting tariffs and other revenues from foreign nations.
The rest
- Extend the deadline to divest or ban TikTok, a measure of questionable legality
- Suspend U.S. foreign assistance programs for 90 days pending a review to see if they align with your agenda.
- Change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America; It will also return the name of Mount Denali in Alaska to Mount McKinley, reversing an Obama-era change.