Trump’s 5 biggest moves on immigration so far

President Trump unleashed a flurry of immigration actions this week, signing a series of orders targeting the border and ramping up enforcement.

While Trump has long promised to crack down on illegal immigration, many of his actions have targeted lengthy legal avenues.

“As commander in chief, I have no higher responsibility than to defend our country against threats and invasions, and that is exactly what I will do,” he said in his opening remarks.

Immigration advocates describe the actions as yet another example of Trump’s cruelty, targeting vulnerable people while causing further unrest at the border in ways that will not make Americans safer.

Here’s a look at Trump’s five biggest moves on immigration during his first week in office:

Birthright citizenship

Trump signed an order on Day 1 to end birthright citizenship for children born in the United States to multiple non-citizen parents.

It’s a move that directly defies the Constitution, which grants citizenship to anyone born on US territory, regardless of their parents’ status.

The order generated some of the first lawsuits — and legal victories — against the Trump administration.

Twenty-two different Democrat-led states sued over the order, as did groups including the American Civil Liberties Union. And a four-state group led by Washington obtained a temporary injunction blocking the order for the next two weeks.

“I’ve been on the bench for over four decades. I can’t recall another case where the question presented is as clear as this. This is a patently unconstitutional order,” U.S. District Court Judge John Coughenour, a Reagan appointee, said during the hearing.

The order was broader than just targeting children of those who may not be in the country legally. It applied to anyone in the US on a nonimmigrant visa, a status that also includes those on work visas, and raised several questions about how children of those legally present would be viewed under US law.

The refugee program suspended

Another order from Trump paused the US refugee program, leaving the program under review for three months.

The executive order calls on the Department of Homeland Security and State to issue a report within 90 days detailing whether it is in the nation’s interest to resume admitting refugees.

The Secretaries of State and Homeland Security will submit a report every 90 days until it is determined that it is appropriate to resume refugee admissions, the executive order states. Until then, refugee admissions remain suspended.

Although the order wasn’t set to take effect until Monday, both agencies immediately curtailed their refugee operations.

The State Department suspended refugee flights and said it was “coordinating with implementing partners to suspend refugee arrivals to the United States and cease processing activities.”

And an email reviewed by The Hill sent to staff processing refugee cases at the US Citizenship and Immigration Services also instructed them not to “make any final decisions (approval, denial) on any refugee application.”

“The refugee program is not only a humanitarian lifeline through which the United States has shown global leadership. It represents the gold standard for legal immigration pathways in terms of security screening, community coordination and mutual economic benefit,” Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Global Refuge, which helps resettle refugees, said in a statement when the order was issued. first announced.

Shuts down the CBP One app

After Trump took office, the US Customs and Border Patrol suspended the CBP One app and canceled all outstanding appointments made by migrants without visas who sought to enter the US through legal ports of entry.

CBP One was a key component of the Biden administration’s efforts to funnel migrants through legal pathways to seek refuge in the United States, one they also used to bring a more orderly process at the border.

Shutting down the app left in limbo those who have waited months just to get an appointment.

It also sparked criticism from immigration advocates who said the Trump administration was targeting those who have sought to come to the United States through legal channels.

The Trump administration also this week shut down the Safe Mobility portal, another initiative of the Biden administration that established offices in Latin America to help immigrants find legal paths to the United States and deter them from migrating illegally.

Militarization of the border

Trump signed a series of orders to increase military presence on the southern border.

He signeda proclamationMonday night declares a national emergency at the border, a move that will mobilize additional resources to the region.

The declaration would allow the Trump administration to deploy Pentagon forces and resources to help complete the construction of the border wall and also allows for surveillance at the border, including the use of unmanned aerial systems.

Trump also signed oneannouncementdirects the US Northern Command to prepare detailed operational plans for the border. That directive came in an order declaring an “invasion” there.

The Pentagon is sending about 1,000 Army soldiers and 500 Marines to the border, building on an existing practice of relying on troops to support existing immigration agents.

But the White House’s nod to the potential for more troops raises questions about whether a military presence at the border could ultimately violate the Posse Comitatus Act, which prevents troops from performing national law enforcement duties.

In addition to potential legal issues, immigration advocates are also concerned about having armed troops close to migrants.

“Military people are trained for a very aggressive, warlike scenario, not necessarily for crowd control,” said Rep.Adriano Espaillat(DN.Y.), Chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

“And so we feel there are other types of law enforcement that are trained for that and that are best suited to be on the border, and they are already on the border.”

Bragging about the border

While Trump has taken a significant number of immigration actions, in some cases his team also sought to take credit for ongoing immigration enforcement actions.

The White House shared a photo of migrants boarding a plane on Friday, saying “deportations have begun.”

The photo was also emblazoned with the words: “Promises made. Promises kept.”

Of course, deportations never stopped under President Biden, and the statement was derided by immigration experts.

“Are these people seriously trying to suggest that the deportation flights haven’t already been underway?” Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior fellow at the American Immigration Council,wrote X.

“They’re lying to you. The Biden administration had already increased deportations from the border to a higher level than it was under the Trump administration.”

The image of migrants boarding a plane to be deported reportedly returned a group of Guatemalan nationals, a nation that accepted hundreds of deportation flights during the Biden administration.

Public accounts on Friday also sought to highlight arrests of migrants, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) claiming it had made 538 arrests and lodged 373 detainees as of Thursday evening.

However, these numbers are also not a stark departure from the levels that were under Biden, with Reichlin-Melnick saying that the Trump administration “forged (sticks) a ‘mass deportation’ sticker on the side of normal ICE operations. “

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