Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.
Within the first hours after he was sworn into office, Donald Trump reversed 78 Biden administration executive policies, withdrew from the Paris climate treaty, upended the 14th Amendment to end birthright citizenship, and signed a directive to the federal government to “restore” freedom of speech.
After signing the flurry of executive orders in front of a crowd at the Capital One Arena, he threw his Sharpie into the crowd and headed to the Oval Office to sign more on his first day in office.
From the White House, Trump declared a national emergency to surge troops to the U.S.-Mexico border, axed diversity, equity and inclusion programs in government and denied the existence of transgender, nonbinary and intersex people throughout the government.
He has also designated cartels as foreign terrorist organizations and cut regulations on oil production.
The extraordinary executive orders, previewed by incoming White House officials on Monday, are likely to face enormous legal backlash from civil rights groups and advocacy groups, drawing constitutional battles as Trump tests the limits of his authority.
Immigration
Trump is set to sign 10 executive orders related to immigration in an effort to create a “common sense” policy in response to immigration that poses an “unconscionable risk” to public safety, public health and national security, an incoming White House official told reporters on Monday.
The official described immigration as an “invasion” that has “caused widespread chaos and suffering.”
One order declared a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border to “erect physical barriers” and deploy military assets under the command of the Secretary of Defense. It is unclear how many troops will be assigned to the southern border.
Trump also ended birthright citizenship with an order that “clarifies” that the 14th Amendment to the Constitution “does not recognize” citizenship for children born to parents who arrived in the country without legal permission.
“On a prospective basis, the federal government will not recognize automatic birthright citizenship for children of illegal aliens born in the United States,” the official said.
Another order will reinstate the so-called “Remain in Mexico” policy to force people to stay on the other side of the southern border while their immigration cases are pending with U.S. courts and authorities.
The administration will also freeze asylum claims — a right guaranteed under both U.S. and international law — and pause a decades-long refugee resettlement program for at least four months.
Trump has also designated cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, though it is unclear what U.S. law enforcement and military actions that could entail.
“We have not made any determination on what that would necessarily look like right now,” an official said ahead of the order being issued. “It’s up to the Secretary of Defense at this point [and] Secretary of State.”
The administration will invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to declare Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua an “irregular armed force of the Venezuelan government.”
Another order will establish that “illegal aliens” convicted of murdering law enforcement officers and other “capital crimes committed by illegal aliens,” according to the official.
“This is about national security, this is about public safety,” the official said. “It ends today.”
Trump also ended the CBP One app, which has been used by more than 900,000 people to schedule appointments with immigration authorities at the southern border since it was introduced in January 2023.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials have estimated roughly 270,000 people on the other side of the border were in the process of trying to get an appointment through the app. It is unclear whether the Trump administration will honor any of those requests.
The app allowed people living outside the country to request an appointment at an official port of entry to begin their asylum claims and immigration paperwork, but has been falsely characterized by Trump and his allies as a fast track for illegal immigration.
Gender identity and LGBT+ rights
Trump will also sign a pair of executive orders intended to roll back the Biden administration’s efforts to recognize and accommodate transgender people at the federal level and end federal efforts to promote diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
The first order states that it is “the policy of the United States to recognize two sexes, male and female” as “sexes that are not changeable and … grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality.”
The order also says the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security and other departments must “ensure that official government documents, including passports and visas, reflect sex accurately.”
The order also directs the Attorney General to promulgate guidance on how the federal government will apply the Supreme Court’s 2020 decision granting anti-discrimination protections to transgender Americans.
Trump’s order would also rescind Biden-era guidance and other orders signed during the Biden administration to eliminate what the official described as “radical gender ideology” from government.
A second order focuses “ending radical and wasteful government [diversity, equity and inclusion] programs and preferencing,” describing such initiatives as illegal discrimination.
“To carry out this directive, the Director of OPM, with the assistance of the Attorney General as requested, shall review and revise, as appropriate, all existing Federal employment practices, union contracts, and training policies or programs to comply with this order,” the order reads.
“Federal employment practices, including Federal employee performance reviews, shall reward individual initiative, skills, performance, and hard work and shall not under any circumstances consider DEI or DEIA factors, goals, policies, mandates, or requirements,” it adds.
Oil and gas drilling and the economy
Trump is fulfilling his campaign’s pledge to “drill, baby, drill” with a series of executive actions to “unleash affordable and reliable American energy,” according to an incoming administration official.
The president has once again pulled the United States out of the Paris climate accords, putting the country alongside Iran, Libya and Yemen as the only countries in the world outside forgoing the 2015 pact, in which governments agree to emissions in the midst of the climate crisis.
Trump has also issued an executive order to declare a “national energy emergency.”
“The United States’ insufficient energy production, transportation, refining, and generation constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat to our Nation’s economy, national security, and foreign policy,” the order reads. “In light of these findings, I hereby declare a national emergency.”
The emergency declaration is “crucial” for generating power to compete in the artificial intelligence race with China, according to the official.
Trump will also sign a “memorandum” on inflation, but the official did not offer details on what that would look like.
“Here we’re going to see an all-of-government approach to bringing down costs for all American citizens,” the official said.
World Health Organization
Trump withdrew the U.S. from the World Health Organization on Monday night after railing against the agency during his first term in office, when the COVID-19 pandemic began.
“The United States noticed its withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2020 due to the organization’s mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic that arose out of Wuhan, China, and other global health crises, its failure to adopt urgently needed reforms, and its inability to demonstrate independence from the inappropriate political influence of WHO member states,” the order reads.
“In addition, the WHO continues to demand unfairly onerous payments from the United States, far out of proportion with other countries’ assessed payments,” it continues.
January 6 pardons
Trump signed full pardons for some 1,500 people charged with crimes related to their involvement in the January 6, 2021 Capitol riots. He also issued six commutations.
“I hope they come out tonight,” he said.
Some 1,583 individuals have been charged criminally in federal court as of January 6, 2025, according to the Department of Justice.
