In what amounts to a shock-and-awe campaign on border security, deportations, and a flurry of other policy objectives, President-elect Donald Trump is drafting over a hundred executive orders to begin Day One of the new White House.
During a private meeting on Capitol Hill, Trump warned Republican senators about the impending assault. Numerous initiatives are anticipated to commence on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, upon his assumption of office. Stephen Miller, a senior advisor to Trump, briefed Republican senators on the impending steps to strengthen border security and crack down on illegal immigration. Trump and his staff made their presentation public for the first time on Axios.
Republican senator from North Dakota John Hoeven said, “There will be a considerable number” of them.
A plethora of issues, including energy development, the U.S.-Mexico border clampdown, federal Schedule F workforce regulations, school gender policies, vaccine mandates, and other campaign pledges, are ready for swift signing by Trump’s allies.
On the first day of office, presidents often take executive actions to establish their priorities. However, Trump and his team are preparing to use unprecedented executive power in ways that have never been seen before, circumventing Congress and its legislative apparatus.
Some may have real weight, while others may serve just as symbols of the incoming president’s agenda.
The senators who were briefed by Trump and his staff during a long session at the Capitol this week anticipate that the next administration would rescind several executive orders issued by the Biden administration while implementing his own policies.
Senators have stated that the incoming Trump administration and the Republican Congress are attempting to fund, as part of their massive budget reconciliation legislation, around $100 billion in proposals, including the completion of the U.S.-Mexico border wall and the establishment of immigration detention facilities to house migrants until their expulsion.
Senators anticipate that Trump will reinstate numerous U.S.-Mexico border policies implemented during his first term. These policies include measures that prohibit migrants from entering the U.S. while their claims are being processed and mandate that they apply in other countries or stay in Mexico. Additionally, they anticipate that Trump will launch massive enforcement actions to deport individuals currently in the U.S. without legal authorization.
Republican senator from Oklahoma, James Lankford, who oversaw last Congress’s negotiations on immigration and border security, has stated that he believes the Trump administration will prioritize the approximately one million foreign nationals who, according to him, have either just entered the country, have criminal records, or are otherwise deemed ineligible to remain in the country.
“That’s the easy part,” Lankford remarked. individuals who have just crossed the border, those who were lawfully present but engaged in other illegal activities, and those who have been ordered deported by a court—that’s more than a million individuals. Get going on that procedure.
During his campaign for president, Trump entertained the idea of a “tiny desk” in the Capitol, where he could sit and swiftly execute executive orders.
Republican senators want to greet Trump inside the Capitol following his oath of office, but he has shown no public indications that he is contemplating such a move. Nomination papers for the next president’s Cabinet and administrative appointments normally require his signature.
The confirmation hearings for some of Trump’s nominees for high-ranking positions in the government will take place in the Senate next week. Upon assuming office, the president often has his candidates vetted by the Senate, and some are even confirmed on Inauguration Day.
The Senate Majority Leader, John Thune, expressed his wish for it to happen while mentioning that many of Trump’s nominees are still awaiting paperwork and background checks. “That’s up to us.”
