Trump preparing Day 1 wave of executive orders, including on immigration

WASHINGTON (OSV News) — President-elect Donald Trump is preparing a wave of executive orders for his first day in office, including what could constitute dramatic action on deportations as well as other policy items on his agenda.

According to multiple reports, in a meeting with Republican senators earlier in January, Trump said he is preparing more than 100 executive orders beginning on the first day of his second term.

Although Trump would need congressional cooperation to enact legislation, he told Time magazine in a November interview that “I can undo almost everything Biden did … through executive order.”

While it is typical for new presidents to issue some executive orders on their first day to signal certain priorities, what Trump is planning would likely be broader in scope. Bypassing Congress on some matters might spur legal challenges.

Some policy areas of Trump’s most notable Day 1 promises include immigration, climate and gender-related policy. But he has also pledged pardons of Jan. 6, 2021, rioters that polls show a majority of Americans oppose.

Deportations and border policy

A general view shows the West Front of the U.S. Capitol building as preparations are underway for the upcoming presidential inauguration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, in Washington Jan. 15, 2025. (OSV News photo/Fabrizio Bensch, Reuters)

Trump has signaled a series of efforts to implement his hardline immigration policies beginning his first day in office.

At a campaign rally in July, Trump said, “On Day One of the Trump presidency, I will restore the travel ban, suspend refugee admissions, stop the resettlement and keep the terrorists the hell out of our country.”

Many of Trump’s immigration policy positions would require congressional authorization for new laws and funding. But his allies have indicated he plans to issue broad orders on his signature issue.

At an October rally at Madison Square Garden in New York, Trump said: “On Day One, I will launch the largest deportation program in American history to get the criminals out.”

While Trump has not yet offered specifics on how he would carry out such a program, mass deportations more broadly run contrary to the Second Vatican Council’s teaching in “Gaudium et Spes” condemning “deportation” among other actions, such as abortion, that “poison human society” and give “supreme dishonor to the Creator,” a teaching Pope St. John Paul II affirmed in two encyclicals on moral truth and life issues.

Trump has also suggested he would seek to end the practice of birthright citizenship. The 14th Amendment 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,” but Trump has suggested he would seek to change it, which would almost certainly be challenged in court.

In a December interview with NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” moderator Kristen Welker asked Trump if he planned to end birthright citizenship on Day 1.

“Absolutely,” Trump said.

Climate

Trump may issue a number of orders on climate as well. In his speech at the Republican National Convention in July, Trump said, “I will end the electric vehicle mandate on Day One,” in reference to efforts by the Biden administration to facilitate the use of electric vehicles, such as the $7,500 consumer tax credit for such vehicles.

Gender

In a campaign video from Feb. 1, 2023, Trump said, “On Day One, I will revoke Joe Biden’s cruel policies on so-called ‘gender-affirming care.'”

A Biden administration regulation expanding Title IX protections from sex discrimination to include students who identify as transgender was blocked Jan. 9 after a federal judge in Kentucky found the regulation exceeded the president’s authority.

The regulation, issued under Title IX, the 1972 federal civil rights law requiring that women and girls have equal access and treatment in education and athletics, said it would ensure that at educational institutions that receive federal funding, no person experienced discrimination on the basis of sex — which it defined as sex stereotypes, sexual orientation, gender identity and sex characteristics — including sex-based harassment or sexual violence at such institutions.

But that regulation was challenged by several states, which argued that broadening the scope of the law could dilute its intended purpose of protecting women’s athletics.

Possible pardons of ‘J6’ rioters

Trump has repeatedly pledged to issue pardons for those charged in relation to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol — the day 2,000 supporters of then-President Trump attempted to block Congress’ certification of President Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.

In his Time magazine interview, Trump said, “I’ll be looking at J6 early on, maybe the first nine minutes.”

Trump allies including Vice President-elect JD Vance have offered conflicting comments on whether these pardons would include those charged with violent crimes.

Pro-life activists seek pardons

Some pro-life activists have pushed for Trump to issue pardons for some pro-lifers they argue were unfairly targeted for prosecution. Thomas More Society attorneys formally requested that the incoming Trump administration issue presidential pardons on behalf of 21 pro-life people they argued were “unjustly prosecuted” under the Federal Access to Clinic Entrances Act, or FACE Act, which prohibits actions including obstructing the entrance to an abortion clinic.

These individuals included Lauren Handy, who was convicted under the FACE Act for her role in leading an Oct. 22, 2020, blockade of a Washington abortion clinic, which was livestreamed over Facebook. Handy’s story gained international news coverage when she revealed that she had stored the remains of five unborn children obtained from that facility in her apartment.

Trump however has not yet indicated whether he would do so.