It's been one year since Donald Trump got elected as president - here are the most controversial things he's done

If there's anything we've learned from Donald Trump's second stint in the White House, it's to expect the unexpected.

Well, not just the unexpected - the controversial, the outrageous, the dangerous, and the damning.

It's been exactly a year today since the Republican leader sealed victory against Democratic candidate Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election - a victory that a large part of the country took as a devastating blow, given Trump's predominantly right-wing and often-harmful values.

And while it's long been known that the 79-year-old bears at least a prejudice against LGBTQ+ communities, ethnic minorities, international immigrants, Muslims, the 'woke left' and women, as his presidential predecessor Barack Obama said over the weekend, to many, Trump's 2025 term has been even 'worse' than could have ever been expected.

Therefore, to commemorate the anniversary of his re-election, let's take a look back at the father-of-five's most controversial decisions.

It's been one year since Trump was re-elected (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Immigration and border control

During his inauguration ceremony back in January, Trump promised to halt 'all illegal entry into the country', vowing to deport millions of 'criminal aliens' as part of the 'largest deportation programme in history'.

Immediately afterwards, he declared America's border situation a national 'invasion', sending military assets to the likes of San Diego and El Paso, Texas to 'obtain complete operational control'.

Officers in these areas were also instructed to turn away an individual seeking asylum in America without giving them a hearing, and the President suspended the country's Refugee Admissions Program. Thankfully, federal courts were able to block some parts of this ban, given that the country's ruler has no power to unilaterally override statutory asylum rights.

ICE agents had their power extended (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Despite this, Trump simultaneously scrapped the CBP One smartphone app, which previously allowed migrants to schedule appointments with US border patrol agents, in a bid to make it trickier for them to settle in the States.

Trump also announced plans to 'suspend' birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants and reinstate an expedited removal processes, regardless of whether or not the child was born on US soil.

Lastly, the Republican expanded the power of ICE agents (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) to detain and hold any individual they suspect to be an illegal immigrant until they could go to trial, even if they bear no criminal record.

This meant that thousands of innocent people were jailed for long periods of time, often in cheaper, less-regulated facilities that were susceptible to overcrowding and poor medical care.

Military assets were sent to borders (OCTAVIO JONES/AFP via Getty Images)

Trade and economic policy

Back in April, Trump blindsided international leaders by introducing sweeping taxes as part of what he called, 'Liberation Day'.

This saw a baseline 10 per cent tariff placed on most imports coming into America, as well as higher 'reciprocal' taxes placed on country that he believed were unfairly benefitting on trading with the US - including placing an initial 34 per cent rate upon China, and 25 per cent on auto imports.

Despite a trade court later putting a stop to a number of Trump's illegally-imposed tariffs, the politician had already long been accused of igniting a trade war, given that a number of countries responded by implementing almighty tariffs of their own.

LGBTQ+ rights and trans bans

The day of his inauguration, Trump ruled during his speech that it would 'henceforth be the official policy of the United States government' that 'only two genders' will be recognised going forward - 'male and female'.

Trump signed a number of executive orders affecting transgender Americans (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Within a matter of hours, he'd signed an executive order that would redefine federal recognition of gender as strictly one of these options, known as the 'Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism Act'. This, in turn, meant that official IDs and documents would only list a person's sex at birth, and not their gender identity.

The law also promised that funding for gender-affirming care would be axed, and that transgender individuals would no longer be permitted to use federally-funded single-sex facilities.

Also in January, gender affirming care for individuals under the age of 18 was banned across the country.

The following month, Trump also signed another executive order, titled 'Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports', which saw transgender women banned from competing in female sport teams, and the halting of funding for schools that allow this.

'Big Beautiful Bill'

Trump's bill affected those receiving SNAP benefits (Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Trump signed the so-called 'One Big Beautiful Bill' in June, which described a considerable piece of financial legislation centred upon tax cuts, immigration enforcement, border wall funding, and domestic energy expansion, as well as changes to both Medicaid and SNAP programmes.

Firstly, it saw a colossal $4.5 trillion extension of Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, securing hefty savings for wealthy Americans and businesses, as well as some middle-income earners.

While many saw this as a positive, it was announced simultaneously with over $1trillion cuts from Medicaid - the federal program providing health insurance for individuals with limited income and resources.

It also saw major cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program programme, also known as 'food stamps'.

Over $45 billion was then dropped on 'infrastructure', with another $100 billion being pumped into ICE for deportations and detention centres.

While adding trillions to America's national debt, the bill also saw an extra $150 billion being spent on military projects like the 'Golden Dome' system.

Over $300 million has been spent on White House 'renovations' (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)

White House 'renovations'

Trump announced plans in July to build a $200 million (£151 million) ballroom inside the White House, claiming it was necessary so that he could host international guests.

Last month, however, despite reassuring Americans that his ballroom 'wouldn't interfere with the current building', he not only revealed that the cost of the project has since crept up to $300 million (£225 million), but that it would see the presidential residence's entire East Wing demolished.

The grounds' much-loved Rose Garden was also paved over, and in replacement of the First Lady's offices and the White House Family Theatre that were destroyed, Trump earlier this week debuted his new gold-leaf bathroom on social media.

With all of these 'achievements' in mind, we can only imagine what the next three years will bring...