10 Trump Executive Orders that Could Transform America

Trump challenged Supreme Court precedent on his first day in office, signing an executive order stating the “privilege of United States citizenship does not automatically extend to persons born in the United States.” The executive order has the potential to dramatically impact the issue of immigration. Historically, federal courts have interpreted the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment to permit birthright citizenship. That amendment states, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” Trump’s executive order, though, asserts that the 14th Amendment was originally intended to grant citizenship exclusively to formerly enslaved individuals. A federal judge on Jan. 22 blocked the executive order from going into effect. The White House hopes the case will ultimately reach the Supreme Court.

Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/SDI Productions

Trump signed an executive order shortly after his inauguration declaring a national emergency along the U.S.-Mexico border and stating that “America’s sovereignty is under attack.” The southern border, the order states, “is overrun by cartels, criminal gangs, known terrorists, human traffickers, smugglers, unvetted military-age males from foreign adversaries, and illicit narcotics that harm Americans, including America.” As part of the order, Trump deployed military personnel and resources along the southern border. The order also allows the military to “construct additional physical barriers along the southern border” -- that is, a wall. “To protect the security and safety of United States citizens, to protect each of the States against invasion, and to uphold my duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, it is my responsibility as President to ensure that the illegal entry of aliens into the United States via the southern border be immediately and entirely stopped,” the order states.

Trump signed an executive order banning federal funds from being used for transgender treatments on minors. It states, “Across the country today, medical professionals are maiming and sterilizing a growing number of impressionable children under the radical and false claim that adults can change a child’s sex through a series of irreversible medical interventions. This dangerous trend will be a stain on our Nation’s history, and it must end.” Numerous children, the order says, “soon regret that they have been mutilated and begin to grasp the horrifying tragedy that they will never be able to conceive children of their own or nurture their children through breastfeeding.” It is the policy of the United States “that it will not fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support the so-called ‘transition’ of a child from one sex to another, and it will rigorously enforce all laws that prohibit or limit these destructive and life-altering procedures,” the order says.

Photo credit: ©GettyImages/IURII KRASILNIKOV

Trump tackled the controversy over transgender ideology and men in women’s sports when he signed an executive order declaring: “It is the policy of the United States to recognize two sexes, male and female. These sexes are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality. Under my direction, the Executive Branch will enforce all sex-protective laws to promote this reality.” The executive order defines “men,” “women,” “male,” and “female” according to biology and orders agencies within the federal government to take “appropriate action to ensure that intimate spaces designated for women, girls, or females (or for men, boys, or males) are designated by sex and not identity.” The order overturns Biden-era guidance that critics said would have allowed boys in girls’ sports. 

Trump signed an executive order supporting the Hyde Amendment -- a position he took in his first administration -- while stating, “It is the policy of the United States, consistent with the Hyde Amendment, to end the forced use of Federal taxpayer dollars to fund or promote elective abortion.” The Hyde Amendment is a legislative provision that prohibits federal dollars from being used for abortions. President Biden opposed the amendment. The Biden administration, the Trump order says, “disregarded this established, commonsense policy by embedding forced taxpayer funding of elective abortions in a wide variety of Federal programs.” The Trump order revoked a pair of Biden orders the Trump administration says violated the Hyde Amendment.

Photo Credit: ©Maria Oswalt/Unsplash  

Trump has signed multiple executive orders targeting DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) programs. The orders end DEI programs within the federal government and with federal contractors. The orders also encourage private employers to end their DEI programs, directing government agencies to identify and take legal action against private employers engaging in what it deems unlawful DEI practices. “Illegal DEI and DEIA policies not only violate the text and spirit of our longstanding Federal civil-rights laws, they also undermine our national unity, as they 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,” one of the orders states. “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.”

Trump signed an executive order on his first day in office declaring a national energy emergency, directing federal agencies to expedite the development of domestic energy resources by utilizing federal lands. “The integrity and expansion of our Nation’s energy infrastructure -- from coast to coast -- is an immediate and pressing priority for the protection of the United States’ national and economic security,” the order says. “It is imperative that the Federal government puts the physical and economic well-being of the American people first. Moreover, the United States has the potential to use its unrealized energy resources domestically and to sell to international allies and partners a reliable, diversified, and affordable supply of energy. This would create jobs and economic prosperity for Americans forgotten in the present economy, improve the United States’ trade balance, help our country compete with hostile foreign powers, strengthen relations with allies and partners, and support international peace and security.”

Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/Pool

Trump’s executive order to rename natural wonders may not be of the highest significance, but it has the potential to have a lasting impact. On his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America” while also restoring the title “Mount McKinley” to the Alaska mountain that was renamed “Denali” during the Obama administration. The order also allows the Secretary of the Interior to honor “additional patriots” at other sites. “It is in the national interest to promote the extraordinary heritage of our Nation and ensure future generations of American citizens celebrate the legacy of our American heroes,” the order says. “The naming of our national treasures, including breathtaking natural wonders and historic works of art, should honor the contributions of visionary and patriotic Americans in our Nation’s rich past.” 

Trump’s executive order requiring an “America first” national policy doesn’t include many details, but it does reflect his view of the world. “From this day forward, the foreign policy of the United States shall champion core American interests and always put America and American citizens first,” the 200-word order says. “As soon as practicable, the Secretary of State shall issue guidance bringing the Department of State’s policies, programs, personnel, and operations in line with an America First foreign policy, which puts America and its interests first.”

Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/Pool

Israel’s air defense missile system -- the Iron Dome -- has saved countless lives in the Jewish state. Trump wants a similar system built to protect the United States. He signed an executive order on Jan. 27 requiring the Department of Defense to study the issue and give him plans for a “next-generation missile defense shield” within 60 days. “The threat of attack by ballistic, hypersonic, and cruise missiles, and other advanced aerial attacks, remains the most catastrophic threat facing the United States. President Ronald Reagan endeavored to build an effective defense against nuclear attacks, and while this program resulted in many technological advances, it was canceled before its goal could be realized. And since the United States withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in 2002 and initiated development of limited homeland missile defense, official United States homeland missile defense policy has remained only to stay ahead of rogue-nation threats and accidental or unauthorized missile launches. Over the past 40 years, rather than lessening, the threat from next-generation strategic weapons has become more intense and complex with the development by peer and near-peer adversaries of next-generation delivery systems and their own homeland integrated air and missile defense capabilities.”