President Donald Trump on Monday kicked off his sweeping immigration crackdown, tasking the U.S. military with aiding border security, issuing a broad ban on asylum and taking steps to restrict citizenship for children born on U.S. soil.
Declaring illegal immigration a national emergency, Trump ordered the Pentagon to provide support for border wall construction, detention space, and migrant transportation, and empowered the secretary of Defense to send troops to the border as needed.
Trump called for his administration to reinstate his “remain in Mexico” program, which forced non-Mexican migrants to wait in Mexico for the resolution of their U.S. cases.
Shortly after the inauguration, U.S. border authorities said they had shut down outgoing President Joe Biden’s CBP One entry program, which had allowed hundreds of thousands of migrants to enter the U.S. legally by scheduling an appointment on an app. Existing appointments were canceled, leaving migrants stunned and unsure of what to do.
Trump, a Republican, recaptured the White House after promising to intensify border security and deport record numbers of migrants. Trump criticized Biden for high levels of illegal immigration during the Democrat’s presidency, but as Biden toughened his policies last year and Mexico stepped up enforcement, the number of migrants caught crossing illegally fell dramatically.
Republicans say large-scale deportations are necessary after millions of immigrants crossed illegally during Biden’s presidency. There were roughly 11 million immigrants in the U.S. illegally or with a temporary status at the start of 2022, according to a U.S. government estimate, a figure that some analysts now place at 13 million to 14 million.
“As commander-in-chief, I have no higher responsibility than to defend our country from threats and invasions, and that is exactly what I am going to do,” Trump said in his inaugural address.
Trump’s critics and immigrant advocates say mass deportations could disrupt businesses, split families and cost U.S. taxpayers billions of dollars.
The American Civil Liberties Union said in a federal court filing on Monday that Trump’s decision to end the CBP One program removed the only avenue to asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border, an opening salvo by the civil rights group to fight Trump’s agenda in court.
Americans have grown less welcoming toward immigrants without legal status since Trump’s first presidency, but remain wary of harsh measures such as using detention camps, a Reuters/Ipsos poll in December found.
BIDEN ENTRY PROGRAM SHUT DOWN
In several Mexican border cities, migrants saw their appointments on Biden’s CBP One app canceled just after Trump took office. Some 280,000 people had been logging into the app daily to secure an appointment as of Jan. 7.
Migrants waiting in Ciudad Juarez scrambled to find short-term rentals, buy bus tickets and call family members back home.
BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP TARGETED
In his order focused on so-called “birthright citizenship Trump called on U.S. agencies to refuse to recognize the citizenship of U.S.-born children without at least one U.S. citizen or permanent resident parent, applying the restrictions in 30 days.
His order prompted the swift filing of a lawsuit in federal court in New Hampshire by the ACLU and other groups, who argued that Trump’s order violated the right for anyone born in the United States to be considered a citizen enshrined in the Citizenship Clause of the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment.
“Denying citizenship to U.S.-born children is not only unconstitutional — it’s also a reckless and ruthless repudiation of American values,” Anthony Romero, the ACLU’s executive director, said in a statement.
In other orders, Trump suspended U.S. refugee resettlement for at least three months and ordered a review of security to see if travelers from certain nations should be subject to a travel ban.
The Republican president rolled back existing guidance for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers that prioritized serious criminals and broadened the scope of their enforcement, including targeting migrants with final deportation orders, a move that could help ramp up removals.
The nascent Trump administration took steps to gain control of the U.S. Justice Department immigration courts, firing four top immigration court officials, three sources familiar with the matter said.
Trump also kicked off a process to designate criminal cartels as foreign terrorist organizations and to utilize a 1798 law known as the Alien Enemies Act against foreign gang members.
With his opening rounds of memoranda and executive orders, Trump repealed dozens of former President Joe Biden’s actions, began his immigration crackdown, withdrew the U.S. from the Paris climate accords and sought to keep TikTok open in the U.S., among other actions. He pardoned hundreds of people for their roles in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Here’s a look at some of Trump’s other initial actions and upcoming plans:
Pardons in the Jan. 6 US Capitol attack
As he promised repeatedly during the 2024 campaign, the president issued pardons late Monday for about 1,500 people convicted or criminally charged in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol as Congress convened to certify Biden’s 2020 victory over Trump.
Separately, Trump ordered an end to federal cases against “political opponents” of the Biden administration — meaning Trump supporters. He said Monday that he would end “weaponization” of federal law enforcement but his actions seemed targeted only to help his backers.
The economy and TikTok
In a made-for-TV display at Capital One Arena on Monday evening, Trump signed a largely symbolic memorandum that he described as directing every federal agency to combat consumer inflation. By repealing Biden actions and adding his own orders, Trump is easing regulatory burdens on oil and natural gas production, something he promises will bring down costs of all consumer goods. Trump is specifically targeting Alaska for expanded fossil fuel production.
On trade, the president said he expects to impose 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico starting Feb. 1, but declined to flesh out his plans for taxing Chinese imports.
Trump also signed an order intended to pause Congress’ TikTok ban for 75 days, a period in which the president says he will seek a U.S. buyer in a deal that can protect national security interests while leaving the popular social media platform open to Americans.
America First
As he did during his first administration, Trump is pulling the U.S. out of the World Health Organization. He also ordered a comprehensive review of U.S. foreign aid spending. Both moves fit into his more isolationist “America First” approach to international affairs.
In more symbolic moves, Trump planned to sign an order renaming the Gulf of Mexico, making it the Gulf of America. The highest mountain in North America, now known as Denali, will revert back to Mount McKinley, its name until President Barack Obama changed it. And Trump signed an order that flags must be at full height at every future Inauguration Day. The order came because former President Jimmy Carter’s death had prompted flags to be at half-staff. Trump demanded they be moved up Monday. Another Trump order calls for promoting “Beautiful Federal Civic Architecture.”
National security
On national security, the president revoked any active security clearances from a long list of his perceived enemies, including former director of national intelligence James Clapper, Leon Panetta, a former director of the CIA and defense secretary, and his own former national security adviser, John Bolton.
Climate and energy
As expected, Trump signed documents he said will formally withdraw the U.S. from the Paris climate agreements. He made the same move during his first term but Biden reversed it.
Additionally, Trump declared an energy emergency as he promised to “drill, baby, drill,” and said he will eliminate what he calls Biden’s electric vehicle mandate.
Overhauling federal bureaucracy
Trump has halted federal government hiring, excepting the military and other parts of government that went unnamed. He added a freeze on new federal regulations while he builds out his second administration.
He formally empowered the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, which is being led by Elon Musk, the world’s richest man. Ostensibly an effort to streamline government, DOGE is not an official agency. But Trump appears poised to give Musk wide latitude to recommend cuts in government programs and spending.
Diversity, equity and inclusion and transgender rights
Trump is rolling back protections for transgender people and terminating diversity, equity and inclusion programs within the federal government. Both are major shifts for the federal policy and are in line with Trump’s campaign trail promises. One order declares that the federal government would recognize only two immutable sexes: male and female. And they’re to be defined based on whether people are born with eggs or sperm, rather than on their chromosomes, according to details of the upcoming order. Under the order, federal prisons and shelters for migrants and rape victims would be segregated by sex as defined by the order. And federal taxpayer money could not be used to fund “transition services.”
A separate order halts DEI programs, directing the White House to identify and end them within the government.
