Underway

Updated:

3/13/25

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This is an omnibus border-related order that will result in more immigration detention and fewer people getting access to the U.S. asylum system.

This order contains a number of provisions — not all of which can go into effect immediately, but all of which signal that this administration will attempt to cut off access to asylum as much as possible and to detain as many immigrants as possible. The order directs the Department of Defense (DoD) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to build the wall and send more personnel to obtain "complete operational control" of the border, a standard that has never been met and could not be met without diverting the resources of the federal government in a drastic manner. The order also instructs the Attorney General and DHS Secretary to assign additional federal personnel to enforce immigration law. As many immigrants as possible are to be detained, instead of being allowed to litigate their immigration cases from their own communities where they have access to documents, counsel, and resources that they cannot obtain in detention. The order instructs the Secretary of State to restart Remain in Mexico and to negotiate so-called "safe third country" agreements, which require the assent of other countries. This order also ends the CBP One app, a flawed phone app that nonetheless allowed asylum seekers to go to ports of entry at assigned times, ends a parole program for citizens for Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela (CHNV), and signals a severe decrease in the use of parole overall. The order directs the Department of Justice (DOJ) and DHS to do more DNA testing of migrants, including of families, and to prosecute more border-related offenses. Finally, this order suggests the Administration will use Title 42's public health authority to cut off access to asylum within the next two weeks.

Challenged

Updated:

3/13/25

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This order seeks to severely narrow government protections and support for transgender, intersex, and nonbinary individuals.

Relying on false claims that attempt to divide communities, this order claims to change the policy of the United States to recognize only two genders (male and female), and attempts to redefine those and other terms throughout federal law to comport with this harmful worldview. It also orders the Attorney General to issue guidance to circumvent Supreme Court case law that supports transgender protections and orders several agencies to investigate people deemed to have prevented others from expressing the administration's dangerous views. This order squarely targets transgender, intersex, and nonbinary people for discrimination.

Challenged

Updated:

3/13/25

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This order suspends all refugee entries indefinitely, starting on Jan. 27, 2025.

Starting on Jan. 27, 2025, all refugee entries into the U.S. under the auspices of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) will be suspended indefinitely until President Trump decides to resume them. The Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS) must submit a report to the president within 90 days, and then every 90 days thereafter, analyzing whether resumption of the USRAP would be in line with the priorities outlined in the order. Given how those priorities are set out, a recommendation to resume the program would be highly unlikely. Refugees can be admitted on a case-by-case basis, if the Secretaries of State and DHS jointly determine it is in the national interest and doesn't pose a threat. Finally, DHS and the Department of Justice (DOJ) are directed to examine whether states and localities can play a larger role in determining where refugees are placed; this emboldens an anti-immigrant argument that states and localities should have essentially veto power over the placement of refugees in their communities.

This order imposes additional tariffs on imports from China based on President Trump's expanded declaration of a national emergency.

This executive order further expands President Trump's declaration of a national emergency at the Southern border (EO 10886) to include the flow of fentanyl from China. It uses this emergency declaration to impose additional tariffs on all goods imported from the country. This EO has already caused confusion, with USPS stopping and then restarting the acceptance of packages from China and Hong Kong. Along with expected increases in the prices of imports that would increase costs for U.S. consumers, China has already announced retaliatory tariffs on U.S. exports and an antitrust investigation into Google.

This order withdraws the U.S. from UNHRC, stops all U.S. funding to UNRWA and UNHRC, and orders a review of all international treaties and intergovernmental organizations.

This executive order directs the Secretary of State to reevaluate the United States’ commitment to three United Nations (UN) organizations: the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC); the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); and the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). The United States will no longer participate in the UNHRC, and U.S. government agencies are directed to not use any funds for a contribution, grant, or other payment to UNRWA and to withhold UN funding that would go to UNHRC. Within 180 days of the issuance of the order, the Secretary of State and the U.S. Representative to the UN are directed to conduct a review of all international intergovernmental organizations of which the United States is a member and all conventions and treaties to which the United States is a party to determine which are contrary to the interest of the United States and whether they can be reformed.

This order calls on the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of Commerce to develop a plan to establish a sovereign wealth fund.

This order calls on the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of Commerce to develop a plan within three months to create a government-owned investment fund. The order directs the secretaries to investigate possible funding mechanisms, investment strategies, and governance models. We do not know how the fund will obtain money, as sovereign wealth funds are typically created by countries with little to no debt and which make an income from their country's natural resources. We also do not know what the plan is for the sovereign wealth fund, though President Trump suggested that it might be used to purchase TikTok. Without safeguards, sovereign wealth funds can be tools of corruption and conflicts of interest. This order is likely to continue to grow the role of the federal government in the economy, allowing Trump and his personal allies to use government money to support corporations they like at the expense of other Americans.