Trump issues slew of executive orders; Biden pardons family members – National & International News – MON 20Jan2025

 

 

Trump issues slew of executive orders on immigration, federal workforce, energy.

Biden pardons family members, Fauci, other Trump targets.

 

Trump issues slew of executive orders on immigration, federal workforce, energy

Donald Trump officially took office today as the 47th president of the United States. He is expected to sign at least 50, and possibly as many as 100, executive orders on his first day in office. Some of them have little policy import and merely promote social issues favored by his base. For example, renaming the “Gulf of Mexico” to the “Gulf of America”; renaming Mt. Denali (North America’s highest peak) to Mount McKinley, the name it bore before the Obama administration; and reversing a Biden policy that allows US passport holders to use the gender neutral X designation in place of male or female. 

Other executive actions will have more far-reaching policy impact both domestically and abroad. 

Immigration

Some of the orders that could be implemented as soon as this week relate to immigration. For example, Trump has vowed to declare a national emergency at the US border with Mexico, empowering him to send troops to the border to crack down on irregular immigration and ramp up deportations of migrants who commit crimes. “By the time the sun sets tomorrow evening,” Trump said during his inauguration speech, “the invasion of our borders will have come to a halt, and all the illegal border trespassers will, in some form or another, be on their way back home”.

Another proclamation in the works is an order blocking access to asylum requests at the Mexican border. Trump was able to implement this under his previous administration due to the COVID health emergency. Attempting to implement it now with no such justification would be in contravention of both US and international law and will surely lead to lengthy court battles, as will Trump’s mass deportation plans.

Legal and diplomatic hurdles ahead

Many of the border/immigration related orders Trump has in mind would put him at odds with existing US laws, court rulings, the Mexican government, and the US Constitution.

Plans to designate members of Mexican cartels and other gangs as “terrorists” could put the US government in the awkward position of being in violation of its own anti-terrorism statutes due to its refusal to take action to prevent the flow of US weapons to the cartels. The US is the chief source of weapons used by cartels in Mexico, a problem that successive US administrations have failed to tackle. 

Trump also plans to reinstate his “Remain in Mexico” policy. Biden attempted to leave this policy in place for much of his administration but was eventually forced to end the policy by successive and overlapping orders from federal judges. Not only that, Mexico’s foreign minister stated that Trump had implemented this plan unilaterally, which will pose problems for implementation. Previously, Remain in Mexico was implemented with the cooperation of the Mexican government.

Trump also wants to challenge the birthright citizenship of children born in the US to illegal migrants, which would conflict with the 14th Amendment.

Climate and energy 

One of the first things on Trump’s agenda, just as in 2017, is once again withdrawing the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement. Not only that, but Trump also wants to declare a national energy emergency and lift restrictions on drilling for oil insensitive areas, such as the Arctic. 

Trump also wants to block funding for climate related provisions of Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. This would put him in conflict with the Impoundment Control Act of 1974, which requires the executive branch to spend funds appropriated by Congress. 

Restructuring the federal government 

Trump’s aids have been preparing an order to allow Trump to implement Schedule F, a policy that would make it easier to replace career civil servants with political appointees. Not only could this affect the day-to-day running of vital federal agencies by doing away with experienced bureaucrats, candidates to replace them would not be subject to the same requirements to ensure they are qualified for the position. 

Additionally, Trump will be looking this week to set up the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). This will be the advisory group tasked with reducing government spending, potentially by eliminating entire federal agencies and enacting massive federal job cuts. If all goes to Trump’s plan, it will be headed by tech billionaire Elon Musk. Various advocacy groups have already filed suit challenging DOGE’s validity, arguing that the unofficial body sidesteps transparency requirements and other laws.

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Biden issues pardons for family members, Fauci, others

On his final full day in office, Biden issued sweeping pardons for members of his family and some potential political targets of the Trump administration. Biden also issued pardons and commutations to civil rights activists who either are or have been incarcerated.

Five members of Biden’s family received a blanket pardon similar to the one he issued for his son Hunter back in December. These pardons shield the recipients against prosecution “for any non-violent offenses committed against the United States which they may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014, through the date of this pardon”. The recipients were: James and Francis Biden (Joe’s brothers) and Sarah Jones Biden (James’ wife); Valerie Biden Owens and John T. Owens (Joe’s sister and brother-in-law).  

Dr. Anthony Fauci and General Mark Milley also received pardons backdated to 2014, but only for potential federal offenses committed during the course of their government duties. Additionally, Biden issued pardons for all members of the House Select Committee that investigated the events of January 6, 2021, as well as their staff, and members of law enforcement who testified to the committee. 

Leonard Peltier goes home 

After nearly 50 years in prison, Native-American activist Leonard Peltier received a commutation of his life sentence on Biden’s last day. Peltier, who is now 80 and suffers from poor health, is a Lakota raised among the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians. He will serve out the rest of his life sentence under house arrest.

In the ’70s, Peltier was a member of the American Indian Movement, a militant indigenous rights group similar to the Black Panthers. In 1977, he was tried and convicted in the shooting death of two FBI agents following a shootout on an Indian reservation in South Dakota. It later came to light that witnesses who identified Peltier as the shooter at trial had testified under duress and recanted. It also came out that the federal government had withheld a ballistics report indicating the bullets that killed the two men did not come from Peltier’s gun. 

Over the years, figures such as Pope Francis, the Dalai Lama, and Nelson Mandela, Amnesty International and numerous Nobel prize recipients have called for Peltier’s release to no avail. Despite this, numerous attempts over decades to have his conviction overturned and sentence reduced have been rejected. 

Now, Peltier will be able to go home to be cared for in his final days by his daughter, surrounded by his many great-grandchildren and his tribe.

Biden also pardoned the late civil rights leader Marcus Garvey and others (opens in new tab).