On his first day as the 47th President of the United States, Donald Trump quickly took action, signing several executive orders that addressed pressing issues such as climate change, immigration, and more, while also issuing pardons for individuals involved in the January 6, 2021, Capitol riots.
Trump signed various executive orders to reform US immigration and citizenship policies, including declaring a national emergency at the southern border and promising a large-scale deportation operation targeting “criminal aliens” involving the military.
In the Oval Office, Trump signed an order revoking birthright citizenship.
But automatic US citizenship to people born in the country is enshrined in the Constitution, and Trump’s action is certain to face a legal challenge.
Trump signed pardons for some of the 1,500 participants in the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol by his supporters trying to overturn the 2020 election.
He again referred to those who were convicted or pleaded guilty over the riots as “hostages.”
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion
Trump repealed various executive orders promoting diversity programs and LGBTQ equality, in line with his promised attack on “woke” culture.
He overturned decrees promoting diversity and equality in the government, businesses and healthcare, as well as the rights of LGBTQ Americans.
Trump said that moving forward the US government will only recognize “two genders, male and female.”
Paris Climate Accord
The president immediately withdrew the United States from the Paris climate accord, repeating an action he took during his first term.
The order extends Trump’s defiant rejection of global efforts to combat planetary warming as catastrophic weather events intensify worldwide.
It would take a year to leave the agreement after submitting a formal notice to the United Nations framework that underpins global climate negotiations.
Oil drilling
Trump signed an order declaring a “national energy emergency” aimed at significantly expanding drilling in the world’s top oil and gas producer.
“We will drill, baby, drill,” Trump said in his inaugural address.
Work from home
Another order requires federal workers to return to the office full-time, with Trump seeking to undo most of the work-from-home allowances that flourished during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Leaving WHO
Trump signed an order for the United States to exit the World Health Organization, insisting Washington was unfairly paying more than China into the UN body.
TikTok
The president ordered a 75-day pause on enforcing a law that would effectively ban TikTok.
His action delayed the implementation of an act that came into effect this week, prohibiting the distribution and updating of TikTok in the United States.
Trump has said the app’s Chinese parent company must agree to sell a fifty percent share to the United States.
West Bank settlers
Trump revoked sanctions against violent Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank accused of abuses against Palestinians, undoing an unprecedented action taken by Joe Biden’s administration.
Cuba
Reversing another one of Biden’s more recent moves, Trump removed Cuba from a blacklist of state sponsors of terrorism.
Biden had removed Cuba from the list only days earlier as part of a deal to free prisoners.
(AFP)
