Ordering the expansion of “expedited removal,” which allows the U.S. to deport someone without a court hearing, to the maximum permitted under federal law (an extent to which it has never been used before). U.S. officials will be authorized to arrest someone accused of entering the country without inspection anywhere inside the U.S. and subject them to expedited removal if they believe that person has been here for less than two years, with the burden on the immigrant to prove that they have been here for longer. (“Protecting the American People Against Invasion”) 

Requiring all noncitizens to register and present their fingerprints to the U.S. government under a rarely-used provision of U.S. law and declaring that all those who have not registered will be subject to criminal penalties. This requirement could be very difficult to meet for immigrants who entered the U.S. without authorization, thus opening the door for them to be targeted for arrest and criminal prosecution. (“Protecting the American People”) 

Instructing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to “ensure” that work permits are not given to people without other legal status—even if they have a pending immigration application. If implemented, this change would radically restrict the population of people who are eligible to work in the U.S. legally. (“Protecting the American People”) 

Directing the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to take action to ensure no public benefits are provided to unauthorized immigrants. (“Protecting the American People”) 

Threatening the revocation of all federal funding to states and localities deemed to be “sanctuary” jurisdictions. (“Protecting the American People”) 

Ordering DHS to expand 287(g) agreements with state and local law enforcement to mobilize them as partners in enforcing federal immigration law, “to the maximum extent permitted by law.” (“Protecting the American People”) 

Revoking all Biden policies setting priorities for immigration enforcement. (“Protecting the American People”) 

Directing audits of any federal contracts with non-governmental organizations engaged directly or indirectly in assisting undocumented immigrants in any way, freezing all funding during these audits, and threatening to order the return of those funds following the audit. (“Protecting the American People”) 

The expansion of the government’s expedited removal authority was announced effective January 21 via a Federal Register notice.  

Revocations of Biden-era enforcement policies are immediate. 

The use of the “registration” provisions will likely be subject to future guidance from the Department of Homeland Security and/or the Department of Justice. While this may be used as a pretext for arrests, the extent to which it will be relied upon is unclear, and further guidance may illuminate it. 

It is unclear how the federal government intends to prevent work permits from being issued to immigrants who are allowed to receive them under current law and regulation, such as asylum or green card applicants. Further guidance will clarify to what extent this may affect people with existing work permits. The administration may seek to change the underlying regulations that allow many unauthorized immigrants to obtain work permits. Any effort to either violate existing regulations on work-permit eligibility or change those regulations would likely be subject to lawsuits. 

The instruction to OMB to prevent unauthorized immigrants from receiving public benefits is vague, and to what extent it signals future policy changes is unclear. 

“Suspending” the entry of anyone “engaged in the invasion” of the United States at the U.S./Mexico border under provision 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. This is the same provision used under the first Trump administration for travel and refugee bans, and which the administration attempted—and failed—to use to restrict asylum during Trump’s first term. A similar 212(f) proclamation was put into effect by President Biden in June 2024. (“Guaranteeing the States Protection Against Invasion”) 

Decreeing that anyone engaged in said “invasion,” as well as any other noncitizen who does not provide sufficient information to the U.S. government prior to entry into the United States, is barred from receiving any relief under the Immigration and Nationality Act. This likely includes not only asylum (mentioned in the executive order) but other humanitarian protections that prevent deportation, including protections for unaccompanied children. (“Guaranteeing the States”) 

Eliminating the use of the CBP One app to make asylum appointments at ports of entry—stranding on the Mexican side of the border an estimated 270,000 people who had either made appointments and were waiting for their chance to present themselves legally, or were waiting to win the appointment lottery. (“Securing Our Borders”) 

Directing DHS and the State Department to reinstate the Migrant Protection Protocols (“Remain in Mexico”) policy “as soon as practicable.” (“Securing Our Borders”) 

Directing the State Department to begin negotiations with other countries to accept U.S. deportations of asylum seekers under “Safe Third Country” agreements. (“Securing Our Borders”) 

Declaring a “national emergency” to unlock a legal authority permitting the Department of Defense (DOD) to redirect military funds for border enforcement, including construction of permanent and temporary border barriers and expanding detention capacity, and directing the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security to mobilize sufficient personnel for “operational control” of the U.S./Mexico border. (“Declaring A National Emergency at the Southern Border,” “Securing Our Borders”) 

Assigning USNORTHCOM—the Department of Defense “combatant command” responsible for the protection of the U.S., Canada, and Mexico—the “mission” of “sealing the borders.” (“Clarifying the Military’s Role in Protecting the Territorial Integrity of the United States”) 

Establishing a process to declare certain cartels “foreign terrorist organizations,” and threatening to invoke the Alien Enemies Act against people declared to be members of those organizations—which could allow those people to be deported without trial, even if they had legal status in the U.S. (“Designating Cartels and Other Organizations as Foreign Terrorist Organizations”) 

Directing DHS and the Department of Defense to mobilize sufficient personnel for “operational control” of the U.S./Mexico border, and to construct permanent and temporary border barriers. (“Securing Our Borders,” “Declaring A National Emergency”) 

DHS disabled the CBP One app's ability to set asylum appointments on January 20, and thousands of pending appointments were immediately cancelled. 

The asylum ban is in place immediately as of January 21, 2025. 

The U.S. government announced that it was reimplementing the Remain in Mexico program on January 21. This is consistent with statements made the same day by Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, who confirmed that Mexico would accept people waiting for their asylum hearings for “humanitarian” reasons. 

The Department of Defense has announced plans to deploy up to 1,500 active-duty troops to the U.S./Mexico border. 

A plan from USNORTHCOM for “sealing the borders” must be presented within 10 days, with a commander’s estimate for the plan expected within 30 days. 

Within 14 days, federal agencies are directed to recommend which cartels and transnational criminal organizations should be designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations, and prepare for the possible use of the Alien Enemies Act against any such designated organizations. How broadly the act will be applied—and how it can be enforced without cooperation from deportees’ home countries—remains unclear. 

DOD and DHS are required to report to the president within 90 days on whether additional actions—including the invocation of the Insurrection Act, which would authorize the military to engage in some domestic law enforcement—will be needed to secure “operational control” of the border. 

Further guidance will be needed to clarify how some of these changes will interact with each other—for example, why people who are enrolled in the reanimated Remain in Mexico program will be placed in immigration court proceedings if they are preemptively excluded from any kind of immigration protections under the 212(f) proclamation—and how they will interact with existing restrictions on asylum.  

The executive orders claim a novel constitutional right to suspend the “physical entry” of people declared to be engaging in “invasion.” It is not clear what this means, and future guidance or policy changes may better illuminate it. 

The government is likely to face litigation over the use of INA section 212(f) not only to prevent the entry of people across the U.S./Mexico border, but to prevent such people from seeking any immigration relief. Litigation is also likely over the elimination of the existing asylum pathway via the CBP One app. 

Declaring that the federal government will no longer recognize the U.S. citizenship of babies born after February 19, 2025 on U.S. soil, if the baby’s mother is unlawfully present or has temporary lawful status, and the baby’s father is not a U.S. citizen or green card holder. (“Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship”) 

Directing the Department of Homeland Security to end Biden-era parole programs it deems to be impermissible uses of the president’s parole authority. The Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan, and Venezuelan (CHNV) parole program is specifically singled out for likely termination. (“Protecting the American People”) 

Directing a “review” of designations of Temporary Protected Status (“TPS”) made by the Biden administration. (“Protecting the American People”) 

On January 21, DHS announced that officials had been instructed to “phase out” the CHNV parole program and others. Which parole programs will be targeted remains unclear but could include policies of parole for those released at the U.S. border; Family Reunification Parole programs; and humanitarian programs such as Uniting for Ukraine and the Afghan parole program. It also remains unclear whether “phasing out” will simply apply to new grants of parole, or whether the administration will attempt to revoke existing parole grants before they are set to expire. 

The federal government has declared it will stop recognizing the citizenship of certain U.S.-born babies after February 19. However, it is still unclear how this will work in practice—especially given the essential role that state governments play in issuing birth records, as well as the uncertainty the wording of the order poses for LGBTQ+ parents and parents using in vitro fertilization. The effort to unilaterally revoke birthright citizenship is already facing multiple lawsuits, and the implementation of this effort may be halted through the courts. 

DHS' review of TPS designations may result in the revocation of some or all existing TPS grants—affecting approximately one million current TPS holders. 

Suspending arrivals of refugees to the United States indefinitely as of January 27, 2025. (“Realigning the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program”) 

Directing the federal government to design a new refugee process that selects only refugees who will be able to “assimilate into the United States,” and gives states and localities more say in allowing refugees to settle in their areas. (“Realigning the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program”) 

Instructing officials to create a list of countries that are alleged to share insufficient information with the U.S. for vetting purposes, laying the groundwork for a new travel ban. (“Protecting the United States from Foreign Terrorists”) 

While the text of the executive actions gives January 27 as the date for the suspension of the refugee program, the State Department sent a memo to resettlement agencies on January 21 instructing them to cancel all travel for incoming refugees—essentially suspending the program six days early. 

U.S. refugee admissions—with potential case-by-case exceptions—will be halted until the U.S. government is satisfied a better program has been created. The Homeland Security Secretary is responsible for providing reports every 90 days on the progress of such a program. 

A list of countries that share “insufficient” information with the U.S. will be provided to the president within 60 days, at which time travel and immigration bans may be issued against anyone from those countries. 

Within 30 days, the Secretary of State is directed to provide recommendations to limit visa programs to exclude foreign nationals who do not support specific ideological values.