Executive Orders:
Below is a summary of key executive orders that occurred since President Trump returned to office:
Immigration-Related Items:
Revocation of Biden-Administration Executive Orders: Revoking various executive orders and presidential actions signed during the Biden administration. These include:
- Executive Order (EO) 14012, which reversed a range of Trump-era guidance and actions impacting legal immigration actions, including around public charge inadmissibility, reducing times related to naturalization processes, and revocation of the 2019 Presidential Memorandum on Enforcing the Legal Responsibilities of Sponsors of Aliens.
- EO 13993, which revoked President Trump’s 2017 EO 13768 (Enhancing Public Safety of the Interior of the United States), which expanded enforcement priorities and defined priorities for deportations.
- EO 14110, which addressed a range of provisions related to development and use of artificial intelligence (AI). The EO included a range of immigration actions to facilitate nonimmigrant and immigrant pathways for AI experts and other critical individuals related to emerging technologies.
Travel Ban: Preparing for “travel ban” reinstatements by no later than 21 March, identifying countries by identify countries where “vetting and screening information is so deficient as to warrant a partial or full suspension on admissions of nationals from those countries.” Additionally, agencies must determine if any individuals that entered or were admitted into the U.S. since the end of the first Trump administration in 2021 need to be excluded from admission and be removed from the country.
Enhanced Vetting: Updating no later than by 19 February the “regulations, policies, procedures, and provisions of the Foreign Affairs Manual (FAM) regarding grounds for inadmissibility…to ensure the continued safety and security of the American people and our constitutional republic.”
Visa Category Reviews: Reviewing no later than 19 February all visa programs to “ensure they are not used by foreign nation-states or other hostile actors to harm the security, political, cultural, or other national interests of the United States.”
Potential Actions Against Foreign Nationals: Obtaining recommendations from agencies by 19 February on how to “protect the American people from the actions of foreign nationals who have undermined or seek to undermine the fundamental Constitutional rights of the American people, including but not limited to, our Citizen’s rights to freedom of speech and the free exercise of religion protected by the First Amendment, who preach or call for sectarian violence, the overthrow or replacement of the culture on which our Constitutional Republic stands, or who provide aid, advocacy, or support for foreign terrorists.”
Birthright Citizenship: Restricting eligibility for birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment to exclude individuals whose mother is a foreign national either unlawfully in the United States at the time of birth or lawfully admitted into the United States on a temporary nonimmigrant visa. Government agencies are prohibited from issuing documents to excluded individuals confirming U.S. citizenship or recognizing documents issued by state, local, or other entities. This EO would apply to individuals born after 19 February 2025. Since its release, Attorneys General from 22 U.S. states have filed lawsuits in federal district courts challenging the legality of the Executive Order, and this litigation has resulted in a temporary hold being issued on 23 January by a federal judge.
U.S. Refugee Program: Suspending the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) for up to 90 days, effective from 27 January 2025 at 12:01 a.m. ET. USRAP will only resume after review by the Department of Homeland Security and Department of State and submission of reports on whether to restart the program based on national interests. The program will continue to be reviewed every 90 days until the president determines “that resumption of the USRAP is in the interests of the United States.”
ICE Actions at Sensitive Locations: Rescinding by DHS of Biden administration-era guidelines related to ICE action restrictions at “sensitive” areas such as schools, hospitals, and churches.
Foreign Policy: Directives requiring the U.S. Secretary of State to review and issue guidance to bring “the Department of State’s policies, programs, personnel, and operations in line with an America First foreign policy, which puts America and its interests first.”
Border Security: Implementing a range of executive orders related to border security, including:
- Declaring a national emergency at the Southern border pursuant to the National Emergencies Act. The declaration includes a range of actions, including deployment of the U.S. military to the Southern border and creation of new physical border barriers along the southern border.
- Ensuring that U.S. Armed Forces “prioritize the protection of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the United States along our national borders,” and launching military processes to create and implement plans to deploy Armed Forces personnel to “seal the border” and repel “forms of invasion, including unlawful mass migration, narcotics trafficking, human smuggling and trafficking, and other criminal activities.”
- Declaring various cartels and other transnational organizations as terrorist organizations, with review of potential organizations and operational preparations to occur within 14 days.