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Executive Action
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Date
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Description
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Status
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Revocation of Biden-Administration Executive Orders
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20 January 2025
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Executive order revoked myriad executive orders and presidential actions signed during the Biden administration, including Executive Order (EO) 14012, EO 13993, and EO 14110.
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In effect as of 20 January 2025
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Travel Ban
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20 January 2025
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Executive order authorizes “travel ban” reinstatement by no later than 21 March. Actions to be taken include:
- Identifying countries where “vetting and screening information is so deficient as to warrant a partial or full suspension on admissions of nationals from those countries.”
- Determining if any individuals who 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.
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Still pending as of 27 March 2025. Media reports indicated draft versions of the ban covered 43 countries, with 11 in a red category that would ban all travel, 10 in an orange category that would have “visas sharply restricted,” and 22 in a yellow category that will provide them 60 days to address concerns or risk being moved to one of the stricter categories.
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Enhanced Vetting
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20 January 2025
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Executive order requiring the updating, no later than by 19 February of 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.”
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Formal updates of the FAM are still pending as of 27 March 2025. Talent mobility practitioners, however, have noted cases of individual candidates receiving additional scrutiny by consulates and agencies since the EO was signed.
Additionally, multiple media reports have covered instances of foreign nationals being denied entry by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, with numerous of these cases involving issues such as past denials, inconsistent information in documentation, and/or information flagged in social media and/or electronic device reviews.
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Visa Category Reviews
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20 January 2025
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EO requiring review, to be done by no later than 19 February, of 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.”
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Still pending as of 27 March 2025
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Potential Actions Against Foreign Nationals
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20 January 2025
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Executive order requiring identified agencies to provide recommendations 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.”
Additionally, a 29 January 2025 executive order related to combating antisemitism
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Actions taken in relation to this EO include, but are not limited to:
- Launch of the Department of State’s “Catch and Revoke” program in early March.
- Plan additions of collection fields on USCIS forms to obtain social media handles of foreign nationals that have been used in the last five years. To date, the collection of social media handles has been done only with the Department of State as part of the completion of a DS-160 or DS-160 Nonimmigrant/Immigrant Visa Application.
Ramped up communications by agencies, including the U.S. Department of State, related to the screening of foreign nationals throughout their time in the United States. |
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Combating Anti-Semitism
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29 January 2025
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Executive order requires agencies to provide “recommendations for familiarizing institutions of higher education with the grounds for inadmissibility under 8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(3) so that such institutions may monitor for and report activities by alien students and staff relevant to those grounds and for ensuring that such reports about aliens lead, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, to investigations and, if warranted, actions to remove such aliens.”
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Starting in February, media reports indicated cases where international students were starting to have visa cancellations due to participation in protests related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In early March, Axios reported that the U.S. State Department launched its “Catch and Revoke” program to cancel the visas of foreign nationals who appear to support Hamas or other designated terror groups.” Actions related to this program have primarily involved students and reportedly leverage artificial intelligence tools to search the social media profiles of visa holders.
According to Axios, over 300 foreign students have had their student visas revoked since the State Department’s “Catch and Release” program went into effect in early March. |
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Birthright Citizenship
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20 January 2025
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Executive order that restricts 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.
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Implementation paused due to injunctions resulting from pending litigation.
After the EO was signed, Attorneys General from 22 U.S. states filed lawsuits in federal district courts challenging the legality of the executive order.
Multiple federal judges have placed injunctions on the implementation. This includes a nationwide indefinite hold issued by a U.S. District Judge on 6 February 2025. On 13 March 2025, the Trump administration requested the U.S. Supreme Court to review and restrict the scope of injunctions blocking enforcement. The Supreme Court has asked states and groups that are challenging the EO to provide responses to the administration’s filing by early April. |
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U.S. Refugee Program
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20 January 2025
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Executive order ordering the suspension of 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.”
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Multiple lawsuits have been filed related to the executive order and the U.S. State Department’s associated blocking of funding for refugee resettlement, and cases are ongoing.
As of 27 March 2025, the USRAP program remains suspended for anyone that would have received status under the program on or after 20 January 2025. However, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on 25 March that individuals conditionally approved by USCIS prior to 20 January must still be processed and admitted while litigation continues. |
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Foreign Policy
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20 January 2025
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Executive order 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.”
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On 14 March, the State Department published a determination in the Federal Register that “all efforts, conducted by any agency of the federal government, to control the status, entry, and exit of people, and the transfer of goods, services, data, technology, and other items across the borders of the United States, constitute a foreign affairs function of the United States under the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. 553, 554.” If this remains in effect, this would enable the Trump administration to enact a range of changes related to immigration (including employment-based), trade, and tariffs, without the need to follow the normal notice-and-comment rulemaking process and consideration of public comments before issuing regulatory rules.
On 12 February, President Trump signed an executive order indicating that “officers or employees charged with implementing the foreign policy of the United States must under Article II do so under the direction and authority of the President.” The EO also launches reforms of the Foreign Service and the “administration of foreign relations to ensure faithful and effective implementation of the President’s foreign policy agenda.” |
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Border Security – National Emergency
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20 January 2025
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Executive order 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. |
Ongoing as of 20 February 2025
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Border Security – Military Priorities and Planning
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20 January 2025
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Executive order ensuring that the 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.”
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Ongoing as of 20 February 2025
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Border Security – Designation of Cartels as Terrorist Organizations
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20 January 2025
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Executive Order declaring various cartels and other transnational organizations as terrorist organizations, with review of potential organizations and operational preparations to occur within 14 days.
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On 20 February 2025, the Department of State published notice in the Federal Register identifying Tren de Aragua, Mara Salvatrucha, Cartel de Sinaloa, Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion, Carteles Unidos, Cartel del Noreste, Cartel del Golfo, and La Nueva Familia Michoacana as foreign terrorist organizations pursuant to INA Section 219.
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