The new president has a Day One pen – here’s how he’ll wield it

Many of President-Elect Donald Trump’s promises on the campaign trail were presaged with the words “on day one.”

He vowed from the very start to deport every illegal immigrant and close the borders; to roll back the woke policies imposed during the Biden administration; to revive fossil fuel production; to slap tariffs on imports; to lift environmental regulations he says are smothering the economy; and to “drain the swamp” in Washington and transform the “deep state.”

While these pledges were couched in Mr. Trump’s signature hyperbole, in many cases, they give an accurate summary of his agenda.

In recent decades, it has become increasingly common for newly inaugurated presidents to mark their Oval Office entrance by signing a slew of executive orders undoing the policies of their predecessors and paving the way for their new administrations. President Joe Biden signed 17 executive orders on his first day in office. Mr. Trump’s transition team has been laser-focused on having personnel and policy ready to go, to help the president-elect beat Washington’s political clock and avoid the policy chaos that marked much of his first term.

Whichever party is out of power typically criticizes the new president’s liberal use of executive action, which is a way of quickly enacting rules and regulations without going through the hoops of the legislative process. But as polarization makes wins in Congress increasingly difficult, this route has been used more and more.

Mishpacha spoke with experts familiar with and sympathetic to the incoming administration’s thinking to glean a better picture of what Mr. Trump is planning for day one.

Border Lines

There is no “day one” promise more synonymous with a Trump administration than securing America’s southern border and launching “the largest deportation program in American history.”

That policy will be defined in two sets of executive orders. The ones that will translate into the quickest action would restore requirements that lowered illegal crossings during Mr. Trump’s first term, like forcing migrants to “remain in Mexico” while their claims are being handled, setting higher standards for asylum, and reversing the Biden administration’s liberal treatment of migrants’ parole status.

Perhaps as important as the concrete outcomes the changes would have are their deterrent effect; many observers feel the message would-be migrants would be receiving will convince them not to attempt an illegal crossing. That has not been the case during the Biden administration.

“The fact that people expect to be caught and released into the country and then wait years for a court date has been a draw,” says Ira Mehlman, of Federation for American Immigration Reform. “You’ll see an end to that. The new administration will require you to ask for asylum from your home country, and a lot might just decide not to come.”