Donald Trump has a long to-do list for first day back, including pardons, deportations
Incoming President Donald Trump told Time magazine he can "undo almost everything Biden did." Credit: AP/Alex Brandon
WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump has promised to use his first day back in office to unilaterally take action on a number of hot button issues.
He has vowed to launch the country’s largest mass deportation plan and seal the U.S. southern border. He has said he will end the Russia-Ukraine war. He has promised to pardon many of those convicted in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and has said he will execute a number of executive orders to roll back his predecessor’s clean energy agenda.
As Trump plans to sign a pile of executive orders after his swearing-in ceremony on Monday, advocacy groups have publicly vowed to move just as swiftly to file legal challenges seeking to halt his orders, and political analysts contend some of his "Day One" promises may need congressional action to get off the ground.
"Does it mean that as of day two all of his executive orders will be in effect? Not necessarily," said Meena Bose, executive director of Hofstra University’s Kalikow Center for the Study of the American Presidency. "It takes time to implement actions, and there can be lawsuits and legal challenges. Some of these are fairly large promises that he's made, the results of which will take some time to see."
On his first day as president in 2017, Trump signed only one executive order, which was aimed at overturning the Obama-era Affordable Care Act. He would eventually sign 221 executive orders in his first term, including the controversial Muslim travel ban that restricted travelers from a list of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States.
Outgoing President Joe Biden, who has signed more than 150 executive orders, used his presidential powers to overturn the Muslim travel ban and other Trump orders. Trump has since said he will likewise look to use his presidential pen to sign orders revoking Biden’s executive orders.
"Look, I can undo almost everything Biden did ... and on Day One, much of that will be undone," Trump told Time magazine in a November interview.
Here’s a look at some of the actions Trump has said he will take on the first day of his second term.
Trump has vowed to enact the largest mass deportation effort in the United States, but he and his incoming border czar, Tom Homan, have offered few details on how the federal government will fund such a plan as border enforcement agencies grapple with a funding shortfall.
"On Day One, I will launch the largest deportation program in American history to get the criminals out," Trump said at an October rally at Madison Square Garden just days before the presidential election.
On his social media website, Truth Social, Trump has suggested he will declare a national emergency over the issue of immigration, and lean on military assets to enact his plan to deport migrants living in the United States without legal status.
Homan in a recent interview with NBC News said the administration plans to ramp up workplace immigration raids as one of its first steps, and plans to shut down a phone app created by the Biden administration that allows asylum-seekers to request a hearing.
"I think the American people have spoken," Homan told NBC News. "This is the No. 1 issue. They went to the voting booth. I think Congress is paying attention. They’ll give us the money to do this job. It’s not so much about illegal immigration. It’s about national security."
The president-elect has also said he will end the Constitution’s guaranteed right of automatic citizenship for all children born in the United States. Legal scholars contend that birthright citizenship is protected by the 14th Amendment’s citizenship clause, which 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."
"Only constitutional amendments, not executive orders or legislation, can change the Constitution," the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) wrote in a statement posted on their website.
Days after his reelection victory, Trump took to social media to declare: "On Jan. 20, as one of my many first executive orders, I will sign all necessary documents to charge Mexico and Canada a 25% Tariff on ALL products coming into the United States."
Trump also promised to impose an "additional 10% tariff" on Chinese imported goods.
Imposing a blanket tariff on imported goods was one of Trump’s longstanding campaign promises, but whether he implements such a plan on his first day remains to be seen.
In an interview with NBC News’ "Meet the Press" last month he left an opening to "adjust it somewhat," when asked how he would respond if the tariffs led to an increase in prices for U.S. consumers.
On the campaign trail, Trump repeatedly said he would broker an end to the Russia-Ukraine war before taking office. But at a recent news conference at Mar-a-Lago, he told reporters an end would likely take a minimum of six months, and his own foreign policy advisers have also echoed that any such deal would take months to reach.
Trump's incoming Russia-Ukraine envoy, retired Army Lt. General Keith Kellogg, told Fox News in a Jan. 11 interview that he envisioned a "solution" to the war would come within 100 days.
"Let's set it at 100 days and move all the way back and figure a way we can do this in the near term to make sure that the solution is solid, it's sustainable, and that this war ends," Kellogg said.
One of Trump’s staple pledges on the campaign trail was to "immediately, first day" block transgender athletes from participating in female sports.
"We will get transgender insanity the hell out of our schools, and we will keep men out of women’s sports," Trump said at his Madison Square Garden rally.
He has promised to cut federal funding to schools that allow transgender individuals to participate in female sports, but he may not need to lean on an executive order because the Republican majority Congress is already weighing a measure that would meet Trump’s pledge.
The House voted 218-206 this past week in favor of a bill that would block federal funding to schools that allow "a person whose sex is male to participate in an athletic program or activity that is designated for women or girls." The measure must still pass the Republican majority Senate.
Civil rights groups including the ACLU have signaled that they will legally challenge any such efforts.
Speaking to the New York Economic Club last September, Trump promised to "immediately issue a national emergency declaration to achieve a massive increase in domestic energy supply."
In simpler terms, Trump has promised in campaign speeches to "drill, baby, drill."
"Starting on Day One, I will approve new drilling, new pipelines, new refineries, new power plants, new reactors, and we will slash the red tape," Trump told supporters at a Michigan campaign rally in August.
Environmental advocacy groups like the League of Conservation Voters and the Natural Resources Defense Council have said they plan to challenge Trump’s agenda in the courts, much as they did in his first term.
Trump has said he would look to grant "major pardons" on his first day to individuals convicted of their role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
"I’ll be looking at J6 early on, maybe the first nine minutes," Trump told Time magazine in a November interview.
More than 1,580 defendants have been charged in the Jan. 6 attack, and more than 1,270 have been convicted, according to a database compiled by National Public Radio. More than 700 of those convicted have already completed their sentences or were not given prison time.
WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump has promised to use his first day back in office to unilaterally take action on a number of hot button issues.
He has vowed to launch the country’s largest mass deportation plan and seal the U.S. southern border. He has said he will end the Russia-Ukraine war. He has promised to pardon many of those convicted in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and has said he will execute a number of executive orders to roll back his predecessor’s clean energy agenda.
As Trump plans to sign a pile of executive orders after his swearing-in ceremony on Monday, advocacy groups have publicly vowed to move just as swiftly to file legal challenges seeking to halt his orders, and political analysts contend some of his "Day One" promises may need congressional action to get off the ground.
"Does it mean that as of day two all of his executive orders will be in effect? Not necessarily," said Meena Bose, executive director of Hofstra University’s Kalikow Center for the Study of the American Presidency. "It takes time to implement actions, and there can be lawsuits and legal challenges. Some of these are fairly large promises that he's made, the results of which will take some time to see."
WHAT NEWSDAY FOUND
- President-elect Donald Trump has promised to use his first day back in office to unilaterally take action on a number of hot button issues, including mass deportations and Jan. 6 pardons.
- Trump has also said that on his first day he will impose tariffs to charge Mexico and Canada a 25% tariff "on ALL products coming into the United States."
- On the campaign trail, Trump repeatedly said he would broker an end to the Russia-Ukraine war before taking office. But more recently, he said it would likely take at least six months.
On his first day as president in 2017, Trump signed only one executive order, which was aimed at overturning the Obama-era Affordable Care Act. He would eventually sign 221 executive orders in his first term, including the controversial Muslim travel ban that restricted travelers from a list of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States.
Outgoing President Joe Biden, who has signed more than 150 executive orders, used his presidential powers to overturn the Muslim travel ban and other Trump orders. Trump has since said he will likewise look to use his presidential pen to sign orders revoking Biden’s executive orders.
"Look, I can undo almost everything Biden did ... and on Day One, much of that will be undone," Trump told Time magazine in a November interview.
Here’s a look at some of the actions Trump has said he will take on the first day of his second term.
Immigration crackdown
Trump has vowed to enact the largest mass deportation effort in the United States, but he and his incoming border czar, Tom Homan, have offered few details on how the federal government will fund such a plan as border enforcement agencies grapple with a funding shortfall.
"On Day One, I will launch the largest deportation program in American history to get the criminals out," Trump said at an October rally at Madison Square Garden just days before the presidential election.
On his social media website, Truth Social, Trump has suggested he will declare a national emergency over the issue of immigration, and lean on military assets to enact his plan to deport migrants living in the United States without legal status.
Homan in a recent interview with NBC News said the administration plans to ramp up workplace immigration raids as one of its first steps, and plans to shut down a phone app created by the Biden administration that allows asylum-seekers to request a hearing.
"I think the American people have spoken," Homan told NBC News. "This is the No. 1 issue. They went to the voting booth. I think Congress is paying attention. They’ll give us the money to do this job. It’s not so much about illegal immigration. It’s about national security."
The president-elect has also said he will end the Constitution’s guaranteed right of automatic citizenship for all children born in the United States. Legal scholars contend that birthright citizenship is protected by the 14th Amendment’s citizenship clause, which 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."
"Only constitutional amendments, not executive orders or legislation, can change the Constitution," the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) wrote in a statement posted on their website.
Imposing tariffs
Days after his reelection victory, Trump took to social media to declare: "On Jan. 20, as one of my many first executive orders, I will sign all necessary documents to charge Mexico and Canada a 25% Tariff on ALL products coming into the United States."
Trump also promised to impose an "additional 10% tariff" on Chinese imported goods.
Imposing a blanket tariff on imported goods was one of Trump’s longstanding campaign promises, but whether he implements such a plan on his first day remains to be seen.
In an interview with NBC News’ "Meet the Press" last month he left an opening to "adjust it somewhat," when asked how he would respond if the tariffs led to an increase in prices for U.S. consumers.
Ukraine-Russia War
On the campaign trail, Trump repeatedly said he would broker an end to the Russia-Ukraine war before taking office. But at a recent news conference at Mar-a-Lago, he told reporters an end would likely take a minimum of six months, and his own foreign policy advisers have also echoed that any such deal would take months to reach.
Trump's incoming Russia-Ukraine envoy, retired Army Lt. General Keith Kellogg, told Fox News in a Jan. 11 interview that he envisioned a "solution" to the war would come within 100 days.
"Let's set it at 100 days and move all the way back and figure a way we can do this in the near term to make sure that the solution is solid, it's sustainable, and that this war ends," Kellogg said.
Transgender athletes
One of Trump’s staple pledges on the campaign trail was to "immediately, first day" block transgender athletes from participating in female sports.
"We will get transgender insanity the hell out of our schools, and we will keep men out of women’s sports," Trump said at his Madison Square Garden rally.
He has promised to cut federal funding to schools that allow transgender individuals to participate in female sports, but he may not need to lean on an executive order because the Republican majority Congress is already weighing a measure that would meet Trump’s pledge.
The House voted 218-206 this past week in favor of a bill that would block federal funding to schools that allow "a person whose sex is male to participate in an athletic program or activity that is designated for women or girls." The measure must still pass the Republican majority Senate.
Civil rights groups including the ACLU have signaled that they will legally challenge any such efforts.
Energy policies
Speaking to the New York Economic Club last September, Trump promised to "immediately issue a national emergency declaration to achieve a massive increase in domestic energy supply."
In simpler terms, Trump has promised in campaign speeches to "drill, baby, drill."
"Starting on Day One, I will approve new drilling, new pipelines, new refineries, new power plants, new reactors, and we will slash the red tape," Trump told supporters at a Michigan campaign rally in August.
Environmental advocacy groups like the League of Conservation Voters and the Natural Resources Defense Council have said they plan to challenge Trump’s agenda in the courts, much as they did in his first term.
Jan. 6 pardons
Trump has said he would look to grant "major pardons" on his first day to individuals convicted of their role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
"I’ll be looking at J6 early on, maybe the first nine minutes," Trump told Time magazine in a November interview.
More than 1,580 defendants have been charged in the Jan. 6 attack, and more than 1,270 have been convicted, according to a database compiled by National Public Radio. More than 700 of those convicted have already completed their sentences or were not given prison time.
Laura Figueroa Hernandez is the White House correspondent and previously covered New York City politics and government. She joined Newsday in 2012 after covering state and local politics for The Miami Herald.
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