WASHINGTON – Donald Trump returned to office on Monday as the 47th president of the United States, signing a slew of executive orders shortly after.
In his first round of executive orders, Trump halted 78 executive actions from President Joe Biden’s administration, signaled efforts to end birthright citizenship and signed a requirement for federal workers to return to full-time, in-person work.
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Below are some of the actions Trump took on his first day back in office:
Jan. 6 US Capitol pardons, commutations
Trump issued pardons late Monday for more than 1,500 people convicted or criminally charged in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, making good on a repeated promise he made during his 2024 campaign.
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Hours after the order, Enrique Tarrio, a former chairman for the Proud Boys extremist group, and Oath Keeps founder Stewart Rhodes were released from prison.
Tarrio and Rhodes received some of the lengthiest sentences for the attack on the Capitol, which happened as Congress convened to certify Biden’s 2020 victory over Trump.
Nayib Hassan, an attorney for Tarrio, said in a statement that Tarrio’s pardon “symbolizes a turning point for our nation.”
“Throughout this journey, we have steadfastly maintained that the charges and the subsequent prosecution were politically motivated, and today, with President Trump’s act of clemency, that long-fought battle concludes,” Hassan said.
The president also ordered an end to federal cases against the Biden administration’s “political opponents.”
Crackdown on immigration
Trump signed orders Monday declaring a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border and reversing several Biden-era immigration orders, restoring what was in place during his last term.
The orders reinstate deportation criteria to pursue all undocumented people in the U.S., not only those with serious criminal records, deemed national security or public safety threats or who recently crossed the border.
Trump said he wants to end federal grants that allow state and local governments to limit cooperation with immigration authorities. He also wants to negotiate with state and local governments to deputize police to enforce immigration laws.
The CBP One app, the online lottery system, disappeared by mid-Monday, leaving many migrants with canceled appointments.
The system gave appointments to 1,450 people a day at eight border crossings to enter on “parole.”
Efforts to end birthright citizenship
Trump made efforts on Monday to end automatic citizenship for anyone born in the U.S., a promise he made on the campaign trail.
Trump and his supporters have argued that the automatic birthright system is being abused, and tougher standards should be set in place to become an American citizen.
Birthright citizenship has been preserved in the U.S. Constitution since 1868. The president said automatic citizenship was “just ridiculous” and he believes he was on “good (legal) ground” to change it.
Trump told reporters Monday that he prefers legal immigration.
“I like it, we need people,” he said.
Trump may use wartime power act for gang deportations
Trump directed the Homeland Security and Justice departments to prepare the use of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which has not been invoked since World War II.
The wartime power act allows the president to detain or deport any noncitizen from a country considered an enemy of the United States.
The order clears the way for the Tren de Aragua or MS-13 criminal organizations to be deemed foreign terrorist organizations.
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“The Cartels functionally control, through a campaign of assassination, terror, rape, and brute force nearly all illegal traffic across the southern border of the United States,” the order says.
TikTok to stay online for now
As national security questions persist against TikTok, Trump signed an executive order allowing the China-based platform to continue operating for 75 days, allowing the app more time to find a U.S. buyer.
The social media app — owned by ByteDance — went dark for its 170 million users in the United States over the weekend in response to a Friday ruling from the Supreme Court that banned the app.
“I guess I have a warm spot for TikTok,” Trump said.
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Trump credited the app for helping his victory in the 2024 election.
In 2020, Trump issued executive orders banning dealings with ByteDance and the owners of the Chinese messaging app WeChat.
Freezing Biden-era orders
Among Monday’s orders was an “immediate regulatory freeze” to many new or pending federal regulations that were issued as last-minute protections from the Biden administration.
In 2017, Trump similarly froze all new or pending Obama-era federal regulations.
One of those reversals redesignated Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism. An executive order issued by Biden had previously lifted the designation.
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel decried the action in a series of posts on X.
“This is not surprising. His goal is to continue strengthening the cruel economic war against Cuba for the purpose of domination,” Díaz-Canel said.
The freeze did not apply to certain emergency regulations that are being implemented for health, safety, financial or national security reasons.
Federal hiring freeze
Trump ordered a federal hiring freeze, suspending hiring for new positions and many open ones. The order has exceptions for jobs related to national security, public safety and the military.
During the Biden administration, efforts were made to increase the number of employees and give out pay raises to many within the federal workforce.
It is unclear how long the latest freeze may last.
Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees labor union, which represents 800,000 workers, denounced the order, saying it had “no legitimate rationale.”
“Make no mistake – this action is not about making the federal government run more efficiently but rather is about sowing chaos and targeting a group of patriotic Americans that President Trump openly calls crooked and dishonest,” Kelley told the Associated Press.
Federal workers return to office full-time
Under another order, federal workers must return to full-time, in-person work at their offices, ending the work-from-home culture that persisted since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Trump said at a news conference in December that he planned to dismiss federal workers who don’t comply with the order.
Trump begins to sever ties to WHO, Paris climate agreement
Another executive order signed by Trump on Monday begins the process of withdrawing the nation from the World Health Organization.
The move would suspend any future transfer of government funds to the organization and recall and reassign federal workers and contractors working with the organization.
Trump ordered the country to withdraw from WHO in July 2020, months after the organization declared COVID-19 to be a pandemic.
Trump faced backlash from many scientists and experts who warned the move would weaken defenses around the world against outbreaks that could lead to pandemics.
The decision was reversed by Biden on his first day of office in January 2021.
Another executive order directs the United States to again pull out of the 2015 Paris climate agreement, which aims to limit long-term global warming and cut down on greenhouse gas emissions.
Rather than join a global agreement, Trump said “the United States’ successful track record of advancing both economic and environmental objectives should be a model for other countries.”
Trump’s last attempted withdrawal took effect the day after the 2020 presidential election.
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