As this publication is going to press, on Inauguration Day, President Trump reportedly will issue some 100 executive orders on his very first day in office. Among those are a number of immigration-related orders. Trump officials indicate that the executive orders will be followed within days by a series of immigration enforcement raids targeting criminals and national security risks, although others could be apprehended too. The President said in his inaugural address that he was declaring a national emergency at the U.S. Southern border, which would trigger deploying additional Pentagon resources, including armed forces, to finish the border wall and for Southern border security. The President said he was also designating drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, and that gang members would be removed. He also confirmed he was reinstating his signature border policy known as “Remain in Mexico,” requiring migrants to stay in Mexico while they go through immigration proceedings in the U.S. He is expected to suspend refugee admissions into the U.S. for at least three months. He is also asking agencies to issue suggestions for further restrictions on immigration from countries of “particular concern.” He has ended the program that allowed migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to apply to the U.S. if they have American sponsors. His most controversial plan is to attempt to deny birthright citizenship to the children of immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally, but this measure may run afoul of the U.S. Constitution.
President Trump’s order ending asylum also opens the door for authorities to arrest and possibly deport millions of foreigners who have been allowed to live in the U.S. while a court decides the outcome. Other executive orders signed on Inauguration Day, call for the elimination of government diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, and directed civil rights agencies to recognize only two sexes, male and female, in enforcing anti-discrimination law. Surprisingly, however, President Trump did not terminate on Inauguration Day the General Counsels of the NLRB and the EEOC, a step taken by his predecessor, President Biden. The executive order halting all pending federal regulations is more of a standard move for the transfer of presidential power dating back to at least Jimmy Carter. Additional Alerts will be issued on these subjects and on the new executive orders on DEI, immigration, and changes at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).
In related news, the U.S. Senate on Monday passed a bill that would require federal authorities to detain migrants accused of theft and violent crimes, and 12 Democratic senators joined the Republicans voting in favor 64-35. The law is called the Laken Riley, named after a Georgia nursing student murdered by an immigrant, and the vote shows the sentiment in Congress has shifted on border security and immigration issues.
This article is part of our February 2025 Newsletter.
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