Donald Trump followed through Monday on his promise for sweeping changes to the immigration system — even going after U.S. citizenship itself.
In several executive orders signed at the White House, Trump sought to restrict birthright citizenship, close pathways to legal immigration relief, ramp up deportations and more. The orders are sure to face legal challenges and cause chaos. But Trump and his allies have repeatedly said the election gave him a referendum to act on immigration, and his orders made clear he plans to use it whether or not it brushes up against the Constitution.
The new orders will affect huge numbers of people: Babies born to unauthorized immigrants will have uncertain citizenship. People seeking relief at the border will be turned around. Some undocumented immigrants considered low priority for deportation previously may now be targeted.
“All illegal entry will immediately be halted, and we will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came,” Trump said during his inaugural speech. “As commander in chief, I have no higher responsibility than to defend our country from threats and invasions, and that is exactly what I am going to do.”
The changes started soon after Trump took office, before he even signed his first order. Trump’s new administration shut down the CBP One app, which allowed migrants seeking relief to make an appointment to legally enter the country. Appointments were suddenly canceled, leaving tens of thousands of migrants in limbo.
The executive orders are expected to cause further upheaval and confusion.
The birthright citizenship order is likely to face a swift legal challenge.
Birthright citizenship
One of Trump’s orders attacks the basis of birthright citizenship — the right that any person born in the U.S. is a U.S. citizen — more than a century after it was affirmed by the Supreme Court.
The order says that citizenship does not “automatically” extend to a person whose mother was unlawfully in the United States if the father is also not a citizen or permanent resident at the time of birth. It also states the same in situations when the mother is in the country on a “lawful but temporary” basis and the father is not a citizen at the time of birth.
The order, if held up by courts, would mean that a person born in the country would need to have at least one citizen parent to also qualify automatically for citizenship.
While most legal experts say that the 14th Amendment is clear, Trump’s invasion rhetoric appears to be oriented toward bolstering his administration’s argument against birthright citizenship. He has said he’ll attempt to use wartime powers, like the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, to increase deportations and will announce a state of emergency. An incoming White House official said that law will specifically be used against the gang Tren de Aragua to assert that “the gang is an irregular armed force of Venezuela’s government conducting a predatory incursion and invasion into the United States.”
Legal experts told NOTUS in December that the Trump team’s argument against birthright citizenship would likely involve asserting unauthorized immigrants are an invading force, and therefore their children aren’t legitimate citizens. While experts didn’t think that argument would ultimately be successful, the administration’s latest actions seem to indicate that they are headed in that direction.
Trump floated the idea to end birthright citizenship during his first term but did not take steps to do so. He and some conservatives have claimed birthright citizenship contributes to what they call “chain migration,” where family members receive visas through one another.
Advocates and lawyers feel confident they can successfully defeat Trump’s order on birthright citizenship in court and said they’ve been preparing to challenge such a move immediately.
The order states that “no department or agency of the United States government shall issue documents recognizing United States citizenship” to newborns who don’t fit their new standard of citizenship, starting in 30 days.
Deportations, Detention and Remain in Mexico
In another order, Trump reinstates the “Migrant Protection Protocols,” otherwise known as “Remain in Mexico.” The program requires that migrants, even those applying for humanitarian relief, wait in Mexico for their asylum cases to be heard.
The president also seeks to end catch and release in the order, which refers to releasing migrants who are not deemed a security risk into the country while they await their immigration court hearings. Ending this practice would be a logistical challenge, since the number of migrants seeking to enter the country far exceeds available beds.
In his order, he directs the secretary of homeland security to hold migrants “to the fullest extent permitted by law” until they can be deported. In a separate order, he directs the secretary to use all means available to construct facilities to detain undocumented immigrants, withhold federal funds from “sanctuary” cities and utilize 287(g) agreements, which allow local and state police to perform duties that can typically only be performed by ICE.
Declare a National Emergency, Build the Wall
In an executive action declaring a national emergency at the southern border, Trump formalized his request for the military to assist with operations there and opened the door for more of his long-promised border wall.
The order directs the secretary of defense to direct “as many units or members of the Armed Forces, including the Ready Reserve and the National Guard” as necessary to obtain “complete operational control of the southern border of the United States.”
The declaration comes as border crossings approach a four-year low.
Presidents can exercise sweeping authority by declaring a national emergency, but the extent of their power can be challenged in court and by Congress. There are limits to what a president can demand without congressional approval, as the president has no ability to appropriate funds. During his last term, Trump tried to use executive action to build the border wall, but it stalled out in Congress.
The new order asks that Trump’s defense and homeland secretaries “immediately take all appropriate action” to “construct additional physical barriers along the southern border.”
He also repealed the executive action from Biden that stopped construction on the wall.
During Trump’s first term, his ask for $5.6 billion in federal funds to begin construction on the wall triggered the longest government shutdown in history.
This time, Republicans have a trifecta of control — but they don’t have the necessary votes in the Senate to surpass the filibuster.
Designate Cartels as Terrorist Organizations
Trump has designated international cartels as terrorist organizations.
The new designation isn’t expected to change much, and is seen more as an antagonistic move against Mexico. The government already has many tools to go after transnational criminal organizations, but at the most extreme, the new designation could justify U.S. mobilization on Mexican soil.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has rejected the idea of the designation, as did the former Mexican president who overlapped with Trump’s first term.
The new designation does expand the web of people who could be pursued, including those seen as materially supporting the cartels in some way. The designation is usually made by the secretary of state alongside the attorney general and treasury secretary, who notify Congress, which the executive action orders them to do.
The order also lays the groundwork for Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act, an old piece of legislation that allows the president to detain and deport noncitizens from certain countries following a declaration of war. Though the original design of the law is narrow, Trump and his team have frequently indicated they hope to broaden its reach to facilitate deportations with little to no due process. The same law was used in the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.
Visas, Asylum and Refugees
Trump has ordered increased screening for visa applicants and has asked for a report from government officials “identifying countries throughout the world for which vetting and screening information is so deficient as to warrant a partial or full suspension on the admission” of people from that country.
It’s one of several provisions that targets legal immigration pathways.
One order is also aimed at ending humanitarian parole, specifically the parole program started by Biden that allows a limited number of Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans who have been vetted and have a sponsor in the U.S. to live and work in the country temporarily.
Biden made wide use of parole in response to humanitarian crises in countries abroad, but the practice became a target for Republicans who argued that he abused the practice.
In a separate action, Trump also ordered the suspension of decisions on all refugee applications indefinitely, “until such time as the further entry into the United States of refugees aligns with the interests of the United States.”
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Casey Murray is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.