Note: This page includes Executive Orders and Presidential Actions that were signed on or before January 24, 2025. It will be updated in the coming days, and kept updated to the best of my ability as time goes on.
Summary
- 1/29/2025: Directs the Secretary of Defense and Secretary of Homeland Security to expand Guantanamo Bay to “full capacity” to detain undocumented immigrants
- 1/29/2025: Signed S.5 or “Laken Riley Act” into law, which allows undocumented immigrants who have been “charged with, arrested for, convicted of, or admits to having committed” burglary, theft, larceny, or shoplifting to be detained without due process by the Department of Homeland Security
- Declares that immigration to states on the Southern border is an “invasion”
- Indefinitely suspends all physical entry into the US from the South by non-citizens, including at legal ports of entry
- Indefinitely suspends the ability for anyone to claim asylum while attempting to enter the US from the South, even at legal ports of entry
- Declares a national emergency regarding cartels?
- Orders preparation to invoked the Alien Enemies act
- Increases screening of non-citizens entering the country
- Calls to identify countries do not have vetting programs to an arbitrary standard to suspend entry of anyone from those countries
- Calls to then identify anyone who may have entered the country from those countries, and remove anyone they choose
- Calls to re-evaluate visa and refugee programs to make them stricter
- Removes funding from sanctuary cities
- Allows for deporting of any non-citizen that breaks any law, received any benefits, or “misrepresented themselves to a government agency”
- Revokes Biden order to improve the asylum system
- Disbands task force that was created to reunify children who were separated from their families January 20, 2017, and January 20, 2021
- Disbanded the Naturalization Working Group
- Revokes Biden order to improve the existing naturalization process to allow more people to become citizens
- Prioritizes the prosecution of criminal offenses related to the unauthorized entry or continued unauthorized presence of undocumented people in the US
- States that joint Homeland Security Task Forces (HSTFs) must be established in all states
- States that every undocumented person over the age of 14 who has been here for more than 30 days must submit themselves to be registered and fingerprinted within 30 days
- States that the parent of any undocumented child under the age of 14 who has been here for more than 30 days must submit them to be registered within 30 days
- Allows Homeland security to deport anyone undocumented who has entered the country within the last 2 years without due process
- Gives authorization to build concentration camps for undocumented immigrants
- Authorizes State and local law enforcement officials to perform the functions of immigration officers
- States that the Secretary of Homeland Security shall take all appropriate action to adopt policies and procedures to encourage undocumented immigrants to leave voluntarily as soon as possible
- Calls to removed due process and the ability for immigration lawyers to file motions to delay or appeal
- Reestablishes the VOICE Office and “Addressing Victims of Crimes Committed by Removable Aliens”
- States that the Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security “shall evaluate and undertake any other lawful actions, criminal or civil, that they deem warranted” against sanctuary cities
- Calls to pause all funding to any non-governmental organizations supporting or providing services, either directly or indirectly, to undocumented immigrants, and terminate any agreements where funds are used to help undocumented immigrants. Also try to recoup any funding that has been provided to those organizations
- Removes any public benefits to undocumented immigrants
- Hires more ICE agents
- Builds more walls and barriers
- Calls to detain any immigrants under suspicion of violating any laws until they are deported
- Deports all undocumented immigrants
- Calls for pursuing criminal charges against undocumented immigrants
- Calls for pursuing criminal charges against anyone who helps undocumented immigrants remain in the country
- Shuts down CBP One app
- Terminates refugee programs for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans
- Requires fingerprints and DNA samples from anyone trying to cross the border
- Ends birthright citizenship for some children of immigrants who are born after Feb 2025, using a very broad interpretation of the words “subject to the jurisdiction thereof”
- Indefinitely suspends the US Refugee Admissions program
- Suspends all current and pending refugee applications
- Revoked Biden order that included Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) programs for Iraqi and Afghan allies
- Directs the Department of Defense to send troops to the southern border
- Declares an national emergency at the Southern border
- Excludes undocumented immigrants from census data
1/29/2025 Action “President Donald J. Trump Signed S.5 into Law”
https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/president-donald-j-trump-signed-s-5-into-law
- Signed S.5 or “Laken Riley Act” into law
- This allows undocumented immigrants who have been “charged with, arrested for, convicted of, or admits to having committed” burglary, theft, larceny, or shoplifting to be detained without due process by the Department of Homeland Security
- Also allows states to sue the federal government if the state or its residents are caused “harm” by an undocumented immigrant, including financial harm of more than $100″
1/29/2025 Memo “Expanding Migrant Operations Center at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay to Full Capacity”
- Directs the Secretary of Defense and Secretary of Homeland Security to expand Guantanamo Bay to “full capacity” to detain undocumented immigrants
Proclamation: “Guaranteeing the states protection against invasion”
- Declares that immigration to the states on the southern border officially constitutes an invasion
- Note: But remember, the border between us and Canada is an “artificially created border”
- Suspends all physical entry into the US from the South by non citizens, including at legal ports of entry, indefinitely (until Trump decides “that the invasion at the southern border has ceased.”
- Suspends the ability for anyone to claim asylum while attempting to enter the US from the South, even at legal ports of entry, indefinitely
- The department of homeland security “shall take all appropriate action to repel, repatriate, or remove any alien engaged in the invasion across the southern border of the United States”
- Note: There is no mention of not using lethal force. “Appropriate action” is not defined.
- Note: There is no mention of not using lethal force. “Appropriate action” is not defined.
Executive Order: “Designating cartels and other organizations as foreign terrorists and organizations and specially designated global terrorists”
- Designates cartel activity (cartel is not defined, though specific gangs are named) as using “complex adaptive systems, characteristic of entities engaged in insurgency and asymmetric warfare and infiltration into foreign governments across the Western Hemisphere”
- Declares a national emergency
- States they are taking preparations to invoke the Alien Enemies act “in relation to the existence of any qualifying invasion or predatory incursion against the territory of the United States by a qualifying actor, and to prepare such facilities as necessary to expedite the removal of those who may be designated under this order”
- Note: so basically the ability to create concentration camps
Executive Order: “Protecting the US from foreign terrorists and other national security and public safety threats”
- States “It is the policy of the United States to protect its citizens from aliens who intend to commit terrorist attacks, threaten our national security, espouse hateful ideology, or otherwise exploit the immigration laws for malevolent purposes.”
- States that “the United States must ensure that admitted aliens and aliens otherwise already present in the United States do not bear hostile attitudes toward its citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles, and do not advocate for, aid, or support designated foreign terrorists and other threats to our national security.”
- Note: So immigrants cannot make any criticisms of the US at all
- Increases screening of non-citizens entering the country
- Requires “identifying countries throughout the world for which vetting and screening information is so deficient as to warrant a partial or full suspension on the admission of nationals from those countries”
- The next step after that is “identifying how many nationals from those countries have entered or have been admitted into the United States on or since January 20, 2021, and any other information the Secretaries and Attorney General deem relevant to the actions or activities of such nationals since their admission or entry to the United States.”
- The step after that is “Whenever information is identified that would support the exclusion or removal of any alien described in subsection 2(b), the Secretary of Homeland Security shall take immediate steps to exclude or remove that alien unless she determines that doing so would inhibit a significant pending investigation or prosecution of the alien for a serious criminal offense or would be contrary to the national security interests of the United States
- Note: So keeping tabs on non-citizens from any country they decide is our enemy, and deport anyone they can, unless they can charge them with a serious crime
- Calls to re-evaluate visa and refugee programs to make them stricter
- Recommends “any actions necessary 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 Citizens’ 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”
- Evaluate “the adequacy of programs designed to ensure the proper assimilation of lawful immigrants into the United States, and recommend any additional measures to be taken that promote a unified American identity and attachment to the Constitution, laws, and founding principles of the United States”
- Note: So make sure that anyone entering the country conforms to American life and dismisses anything about their native culture or language
Executive Order: “Protecting the American people from invasion”
- Declares that immigration into the US is an “invasion”
- This order is meant to strengthen and enforce immigration laws
- Revokes the following executive orders:
- Executive Order 13993 of January 20, 2021 (Revision of Civil Immigration Enforcement Policies and Priorities)
- This EO revoked Trump’s executive order that deported any non-citizen that breaks any law, received any benefits, or “misrepresented themselves to a gov agency” (so anyone here undocumented, period) and removed funding for sanctuary cities
- Note: So that means these policies will be back in place
- Executive Order 14010 of February 2, 2021 (Creating a Comprehensive Regional Framework To Address the Causes of Migration, To Manage Migration Throughout North and Central America, and To Provide Safe and Orderly Processing of Asylum Seekers at the United States Border)
- Stated that the Administration would “implement a multi-pronged approach to immigration that involves strengthening and expanding North and Central American countries’ asylum systems and resettlement capacities, advancing opportunities for vulnerable populations to seek protection “closer to home”, and rebuilding the U.S. asylum system”
- Executive Order 14011 of February 2, 2021 (Establishment of Interagency Task Force on the Reunification of Families)
- Established a task force to identify all children who were separated from their families at the U.S.-Mexico border between January 20, 2017, and January 20, 2021
- The task force was responsible for facilitating the reunification of the identified children with their families
- Executive Order 14012 of February 2, 2021 (Restoring Faith in Our Legal Immigration Systems and Strengthening Integration and Inclusion Efforts for New Americans)
- Instructs the Domestic Policy Council to convene a “Task Force on New Americans” to coordinate the federal government’s efforts to welcome and support immigrants, including refugees, and facilitate state and local integration and inclusion efforts
- Also stated that the Department of Homeland Security needed to develop a plan improve the existing naturalization process
- Created the Naturalization Working Group
- Executive Order 13993 of January 20, 2021 (Revision of Civil Immigration Enforcement Policies and Priorities)
- Prioritizes the prosecution of criminal offenses related to the unauthorized entry or continued unauthorized presence of undocumented people in the US
- Note: So arresting undocumented people for being here is the #1 priority
- States that joint Homeland Security Task Forces (HSTFs) must be established in all states
- The Secretary of Homeland Security must Immediately announce and publicize information about the legal obligation of all undocumented immigrants comply with the following:
- Every undocumented person over the age of 14 who has not been registered and fingerprinted, who has been here for more than 30 days, must submit themselves for registration and fingerprinting within 30 days
- The parent or legal guardian of any undocumented person under the age of 14 and who has been here for more than 30 days must submit themselves to have the child registered within 30 days. Once that child turns 14, they must then submit themselves for registration and fingerprinting within 30 days of their 14th birthday
- Failure to comply will be treated as a civil and criminal enforcement priority
- States that the of Homeland Security shall take all appropriate action to ensure the efficient and expedited removal of undocumented immigrants
- Specific laws are stated: section 235(b)(1)(A)(iii)(I) of the INA (8 U.S.C. 1225(b)(1)(A)(iii)(I), section 235(b)(1)(A)(i) and (ii) of the INA to the aliens designated under section 235(b)(1)(A)(iii)(II), and sections 238 and 240(d) of the INA (8 U.S.C. 1228 and 1229a(d))
- Note: If I’m reading the laws cited correctly, this allows the ability to deport anyone undocumented who has come into the country within the last 2 years without due process. No hearings required—just detention and expedited deportation
- Gives authorization to build concentration camps for undocumented immigrants
- Authorizes State and local law enforcement officials to perform the functions of immigration officers
- States that the Secretary of Homeland Security shall take all appropriate action to adopt policies and procedures to encourage undocumented immigrants to leave voluntarily as soon as possible
- Calls to remove any “all documentary barriers, dilatory tactics, or other restrictions that prevent the prompt repatriation of aliens to any foreign state”
- This basically means removing due process and the ability for immigration lawyers to file motions to delay or appeal
- Reestablishes the VOICE Office and “Addressing Victims of Crimes Committed by Removable Aliens”
- Rescind the policy decisions of the previous administration, and state that all agencies must and align any and all departmental activities with the policies set out by this order, including, but not limited to:
- Making sure that asylum is granted only on a case-by-case basis, based solely on the plain text of the law, and “only when an individual alien demonstrates urgent humanitarian reasons or a significant public benefit derived from their particular continued presence in the United States arising from such parole”
- Make sure designations of Temporary Protected Status are appropriately limited in scope and made for only so long as may be necessary to fulfill the textual requirements of the law
- Make sure that that employment authorization is not provided to any undocumented immigrant
- Removes all federal funding from anything considered a sanctuary city
- States that the Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security “shall evaluate and undertake any other lawful actions, criminal or civil, that they deem warranted” against sanctuary cities
- Calls for review and audit of all contracts, grants, etc, that provide Federal funding to non-governmental organizations supporting or providing services, either directly or indirectly, to undocumented immigrants
- Pause distribution of all further funds
- Terminate any agreements where funds are used to help undocumented immigrants
- Initiate clawback or recoupment procedures for any funds that were dispersed and used to help undocumented immigrants
- Removes any public benefits to undocumented immigrants
- Hires more ICE agents
Executive Order: “Securing our borders”
https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/securing-our-borders
- Builds more walls and other barriers
- Calls to detain any immigrants under suspicion of violating any laws until they are deported
- Deports all undocumented immigrants
- Calls for pursuing criminal charges against undocumented immigrants
- Calls for pursuing criminal charges against anyone who helps undocumented immigrants remain in the country
- Adds more people working at the boarder
- Shuts down CBP One app, which was created to help people enter legally as asylum seekers
- This also cancelled all pending and existing appointments
- Terminates refugee programs for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans
- Requires fingerprints and DNA samples from anyone trying to cross the border
- “The Secretary of Homeland Security shall take all appropriate action to use any available technologies and procedures to determine the validity of any claimed familial relationship between aliens encountered or apprehended by the Department of Homeland Security”
Executive Order: “Protecting the meaning and value of American citizenship”
- NOTE: As of January 23th, this has been blocked by a judge for the time being. Trump has stated he will appeal that ruling
- Note: The 14th Amendment states
- All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
- This ends birthright citizenship for immigrants, using a very broad interpretation of the words “subject to the jurisdiction thereof”
- States that a child whose mother is undocumented and father is not a US Citizen or legal permanent resident is not a citizen
- States that a child whose mother is here on a visa and the father is not a US citizen or lawful permanent resident is not a citizen
- Only affecting anyone born after Feb of 2025 (30 days after being signed). They are not revoking existing citizenship at this time
Executive Order:“Realigning the US Refugee Admissions program”
- Suspends the US Refugee Admissions program indefinitely “until such time as the further entry into the United States of refugees aligns with the interests of the United States.” (So, never)
- If it is ever reinstated, it will “ admit only those refugees who can fully and appropriately assimilate into the United States and to ensure that the United States preserves taxpayer resources for its citizens”
- All decisions for current refugee applications are suspended indefinitely
- “Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security may jointly determine to admit aliens to the United States as refugees on a case-by-case basis, in their discretion, but only so long as they determine that the entry of such aliens as refugees is in the national interest and does not pose a threat to the security or welfare of the United States.”
- In 90 days, Secretary of Homeland Security will submit a report to the President regarding whether resumption of entry of refugees into the United States under the USRAP would be in the interests of the United States. They will do this every 90 days “ until I determine that resumption of the USRAP is in the interests of the United States” (so, never)
- Revoked Executive Order 14013 of February 4, 2021 (Rebuilding and Enhancing Programs To Resettle Refugees and Planning for the Impact of Climate Change on Migration)
- This executive order stated that the refugee program should be expanded and enforced in a manner that furthers our values as a nation
- It states that the process should be quickly and more efficient, so as to better provide humanitarian aid to those who need it, with the principals of family reunification
- It stated that refugees should be treated with respect and dignity
- Called for enhance access to the refugee program for people who are more vulnerable to persecution, including women, children, and other individuals who are at risk of persecution related to their gender, gender expression, or sexual orientation
- It also enforced that Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) programs for Iraqi and Afghan allies—so the interpreters and such, who helped out our soldiers at the risk to their lives. Revoking the executive order will most likely make it so that those folks cannot receive Visas to enter the US
Executive Order: “Clarifying the military’s role in protecting the territorial integrity of the US”
- This basically directs the Department of Defense to send troops to the southern border
- States that, within 10 days of the order, the Secretary of Defense will provide Trump with a plan that “assigns United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) the mission to seal the borders and maintain the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and security of the United States by repelling forms of invasion including unlawful mass migration, narcotics trafficking, human smuggling and trafficking, and other criminal activities”
- The plan should be put into effect within 30 days
- Requirement for USNORTHCOM to “provide steady-state southern border security,” and “seal the border
Proclamation: “Declaring a national emergency at the southern border of the US”
- States that a national emergency exists at the southern border of the United States
- Officially declares that this “emergency” requires the use of the Armed Forces
- Secretary of Defense must order as many units or members of the Armed Forces, including the Ready Reserve and the National Guard, as deemed appropriate, to the southern border
- Secretaries of Defense and Homeland Security must immediately construct additional physical barriers along the southern border
- Consider waiving all Federal Aviation Administration and Federal Communications Commission that restrict the Department of Homeland Security’s ability to counter unmanned aerial systems within 5 miles of the southern border
- Prioritize the impedance and denial of the unauthorized physical entry of undocumented immigrants across the southern border of the United States, “ensuring that use of force policies prioritize the safety and security of Department of Homeland Security personnel and of members of the Armed Forces”
- Revokes Proclamation 10142 of January 20, 2021 (Termination of Emergency With Respect to the Southern Border of the United States and Redirection of Funds Diverted to Border Wall Construction)
- This was Biden revoking Trump’s original emergency declaration
- Within 90 days the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Security must submit a report regarding the conditions at the southern border of the United States, and make recommendations regarding additional actions that may be necessary to obtain complete operational control of the southern border, including whether to invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807
Executive Order: Revoked Executive Order 13986 of January 20, 2021 (Ensuring a Lawful and Accurate Enumeration and Apportionment Pursuant to the Decennial Census)
- Made it so that undocumented immigrants could not be excluded from the census
Executive Order: Revoked Executive Order 13993 of January 20, 2021 (Revision of Civil Immigration Enforcement Policies and Priorities)
- Stated that “Immigrants have helped strengthen America’s families, communities, businesses and workforce, and economy, infusing the United States with creativity, energy, and ingenuity”
- Revoked Trumps exec order that deported any non citizen for breaking any law, receiving any benefits, or misrepresenting themselves to a gov agency (so anyone here illegally) and removed funding for sanctuary cities
Executive Order: Revoked Executive Order 14010 of February 2, 2021 (Creating a Comprehensive Regional Framework To Address the Causes of Migration, To Manage Migration Throughout North and Central America, and To Provide Safe and Orderly Processing of Asylum Seekers at the United States Border)
- Discussed identifying the root causes of migration and how we may be able to help those things, and expand and improve efforts to resettle asylum seekers.
Executive Order: Revoked Executive Order 14011 of February 2, 2021 (Establishment of Interagency Task Force on the Reunification of Families)
- Made a task force to help undocumented kids that were separated from their families
Executive Order: Revoked Executive Order 14012 of February 2, 2021 (Restoring Faith in Our Legal Immigration Systems and Strengthening Integration and Inclusion Efforts for New Americans)
- Called to coordinate the Federal Government’s efforts to welcome and support immigrants, including refugees and help State and local integration and inclusion efforts
- Created a Task Force on New Americans, which included members of agencies that implement policies that impact immigrant communities
- Also asked to identify barriers to legal immigration and identify agencies that fail to promote access to legal immigration services
Executive Order: Revoked Executive Order 14013 of February 4, 2021 (Rebuilding and Enhancing Programs To Resettle Refugees and Planning for the Impact of Climate Change on Migration)
- Improved refugee program