All of Trump’s controversial executive orders so far after just one week in the White House
Donald Trump has already signed 34 executive orders during his first week as president of the United States.
It's been just a week since the president's inauguration, which, by the amount he's already changed, you wouldn't believe.
On the day of the ceremony alone, he signed over 20 executive orders, but has since continued to push through more and more.
So, let's take a look at every executive order Trump has signed, since becoming the president for second time around.
Advert
Withdrawn from the World Health Organisation
Trump's executive order accused The World Health Organisation (WHO) for 'mishandling' the Covid-19 pandemic as well as other 'global health crises'.
It also states: "The WHO continues to demand unfairly onerous payments from the United States, far out of proportion with other countries’ assessed payments.
"China, with a population of 1.4 billion, has 300 percent of the population of the United States, yet contributes nearly 90 percent less to the WHO."
However, it takes a year to withdraw fully from the agency. WHO have since responded to the announcement, adding that they hope the US will 'reconsider' and they 'look forward to engaging in constructive dialogue to maintain the partnership between the USA and WHO, for the benefit of the health and well-being of millions of people around the globe'.
Renamed Mount Denali and the Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico will be renamed the Gulf of America, and Denali, which is the highest peak in North America, will revert to Mount McKinley.
Barack Obama changed the name of the mountain in 2015, but Trump has decided to revert back to its original title to honour 'American greatness' - though it may only be a change in the US.
Mexico's president, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, has since responded to this declaration.
'Restoring' the death penalty
In his executive order, Trump called capital punishment 'an essential tool for deterring and punishing those who would commit the most heinous crimes and acts of lethal violence against American citizens', and criticised his predecessor, Joe Biden, for 'commuting the sentences of 37 of the 40 most vile and sadistic rapists, child molesters, and murderers on Federal death row'.
His order demands the implementation of the death penalty 'for all crimes of a severity demanding its use', as well the Attorney General taking 'all necessary and lawful action' to ensure states which capital punishment is allow have 'a sufficient supply of drugs needed to carry out lethal injection'.
Fly the American flag at future inauguration days
Trump has also announced his intention to have the American flag at full-staff during future inaugurations at The White House as well as other public buildings, military and naval posts, and American territories.
It continues: "I also direct that, for the same period of time, the flag shall be flown at full-staff at all United States embassies, legations, consular offices, and other facilities abroad, including all military facilities and naval vessels and stations."
Implement the Department of Government Efficiency
Trump infamously hired Elon Musk to run a new government department, DOGE, in a cost-cutting initiative.
In a press release, the president has previously explained that Musk's job is to 'dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies'.
Musk isn't alone, however, as he will be joined by Vivek Ramaswamy, who, in response to Trump's announcement, wrote on social media that they will 'not go gently', as per the BBC.
Terminate DEI programs
In his order, Trump criticised the use of 'diversity, equity, and inclusion' (DEI) or 'diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility', claiming they not only violate civil-rights laws, but also 'deny, discredit, and undermine the traditional American values of hard work, excellence, and individual achievement in favor of an unlawful, corrosive, and pernicious identity-based spoils system'.
It adds: "Hardworking Americans who deserve a shot at the American Dream should not be stigmatized, demeaned, or shut out of opportunities because of their race or sex."
According to the BBC, another order soon followed calling for all DEI offices, programmes and positions to be closed within 60 days.
End all remote work for federal staff
Trump has ordered that all federal workers return to the office, writing in his order: "Heads of all departments and agencies in the executive branch of Government shall, as soon as practicable, take all necessary steps to terminate remote work arrangements and require employees to return to work in-person at their respective duty stations on a full-time basis, provided that the department and agency heads shall make exemptions they deem necessary."
Freeze federal hiring
As well as banning remote work, Trump has ordered the employment of federal staff to pause.
However, there has been an exception for the military, and positions related to 'immigration enforcement, national security, and public safety'.
Restore schedule F workers
According to The Guardian, this order essentially reinstates 'Schedule F', which aimed to allow a number of career federal employees to lose their jobs without any protection and reclassify their positions as political appointments.
The order states that this is necessary to maintain 'professionalism and accountability', which he claims is 'sorely lacking today'.
It continues: "Principles of good administration, therefore, necessitate action to restore accountability to the career civil service, beginning with positions of a confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating character."
Grant top secret security clearances
Prior to the executive order being signed, White House staff would have had to go through a tradition vetting procedure to be granted top secret security clearance - but Trump wants to make this process more lenient.
His order states: "There is a backlog created by the Biden Administration in the processing of security clearances of individuals hired to work in the Executive Office of the President.
"Because of this backlog and the bureaucratic process and broken security clearance process, individuals who have not timely received the appropriate clearances are ineligible for access to the White House complex, infrastructure, and technology and are therefore unable to perform the duties for which they were hired."
End birthright citizenship
According to Trump's order, a child born in the US to parents who don't have US citizenship will not be granted automatic citizenship.
It states that if a person's mother is 'unlawfully present in the US and the father was not a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of said person's birth' or 'when that person’s mother’s presence in the United States at the time of said person’s birth was lawful but temporary (such as, but not limited to, visiting the United States under the auspices of the Visa Waiver Program or visiting on a student, work, or tourist visa) and the father was not a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of said person’s birth', then the child will not be considered an American citizen.
Suspend the Refugee Admissions Program
The order says that America 'lacks the ability to absorb large numbers of migrants, and in particular, refugees, into its communities in a manner that does not compromise the availability of resources for Americans, that protects their safety and security, and that ensures the appropriate assimilation of refugees'.
This will be the case 'until such time as the further entry into the United States of refugees aligns with the interests of the US'.
'Securing' borders
In the order titled 'Protecting The American People Against Invasion', Trump claims this is a matter of 'national security and public safety of the United States', claiming that 'many of these aliens unlawfully within the United States present significant threats to national security and public safety, committing vile and heinous acts against innocent Americans'.
In another order, he calls for borders to be made more secure, adding that the Federal government must act with urgency and strength to end the threats posed by an unsecured border'.
Designating cartels as 'foreign terrorist organisations'
Trump has considered designating them as 'foreign terrorist organisations'.
It further states that within 14 days of the order, the Attorney General and Secretary of Homeland Security 'shall take all appropriate action, in consultation with the Secretary of State, to make operational preparations regarding the implementation of any decision I make to invoke the Alien Enemies Act'.
Recognise two sexes
Trump has signed an order which only legally recognises male and female as 'two genders'.
According to his order, people will be identified by their sex assigned at birth, with female being defined as 'a person belonging, at conception, to the sex that produces the large reproductive cell', while a male is defined as 'a person belonging, at conception, to the sex that produces the small reproductive cell'.
It continues: "Agencies will cease pretending that men can be women and women can be men when enforcing laws that protect against sex discrimination.
"These sexes are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality."
Declare a national energy emergency
According to the order, the manufacturing of energy is 'far too inadequate to meet our Nation’s needs', adding: "We need a reliable, diversified, and affordable supply of energy to drive our Nation’s manufacturing, transportation, agriculture, and defense industries, and to sustain the basics of modern life and military preparedness."
He claims that 'the policies of the previous administration have driven our Nation into a national emergency, where a precariously inadequate and intermittent energy supply, and an increasingly unreliable grid, require swift and decisive action'.
Attempt to reverse Biden's ban on offshore drilling
Despite Biden's concern that off-shore drilling off the US coast could cause 'irreversible damage to places we hold dear and is unnecessary to meet our nation's energy needs, Trump has plans to revoke this to better the US' economy.
He'd previously said that 'we would drill baby, drill' and said in his inaugural message on Monday (via The Guardian): "We have something that no other manufacturing nation will ever have, the largest amount of oil and gas of any country on Earth, and we are going to use it – let me use it.
"We will be a rich nation again, and it is that liquid gold under our feet that will help to do it."
Unleash America's energy
"America is blessed with an abundance of energy and natural resources that have historically powered our Nation’s economic prosperity." the order says. "In recent years, burdensome and ideologically motivated regulations have impeded the development of these resources, limited the generation of reliable and affordable electricity, reduced job creation, and inflicted high energy costs upon our citizens."
How Trump plans to combat this is by 'encouraging energy exploration and production on Federal lands and waters' and 'establish our position as the leading producer and processor of non-fuel minerals, including rare earth minerals, which will create jobs and prosperity at home, strengthen supply chains for the United States and its allies, and reduce the global influence of malign and adversarial states'.
According to Reuters, the president has also called for permit applications to be resumed for liquefied natural gas.
Halt the leasing of federal waters and suspension of off-shore wind farms
This decision is currently for the purpose of offshore wind farms, as the order says: "This withdrawal temporarily prevents consideration of any area in the OCS for any new or renewed wind energy leasing for the purposes of generation of electricity or any other such use derived from the use of wind."
Review regulations on the development of a variety of energy sources
Any 'undue' burdens will need to be looked at under the order, as it aims to particularly focus on 'oil, natural gas, coal, hydropower, biofuels, critical mineral, and nuclear energy resources'.
"The heads of all agencies shall review all existing regulations, orders, guidance documents, policies, settlements, consent orders, and any other agency actions (collectively, agency actions) to identify those agency actions that impose an undue burden on the identification, development, or use of domestic energy resources." the order states.
Revoke the TikTok ban
Trump has halted the TikTok ban for 'a period of 75 days' in order to allow the Trump administration 'an opportunity to determine the appropriate course forward'.
He also added that 'my administration must also review sensitive intelligence related to those concerns and evaluate the sufficiency of mitigation measures TikTok has taken to date'.
Topics: Donald Trump, Politics, US News
Mia Williams