US President Donald Trump on Monday issued a flurry of executive orders and directives as he sought to put his stamp on his new administration on matters ranging from energy to criminal pardons and immigration.
Here are some of the key executive orders signed on Trump’s first day back in office.
Pardons
Trump pardoned about 1,500 people who stormed the US Capitol on Jan 6, 2021, in a sweeping gesture of support to the people who assaulted police as they tried to prevent lawmakers from certifying his 2020 election defeat.
“We hope they come out tonight, frankly,” Trump said. “We’re expecting it.”
The far-reaching action also cuts short the sentences of 14 members of the far-right Proud Boys and Oath Keepers organisations, including some who were convicted of seditious conspiracy.
The document also directs the US attorney general to drop pending cases related to the riot.
Immigration
Trump signed orders declaring illegal immigration at the US-Mexico border a national emergency, designating criminal cartels as terrorist organisations, and targeting automatic citizenship for US-born children of immigrants in the country illegally.
Trump’s order dealing with US refugee resettlement will suspend the program for at least four months and will order a review of security to see if travellers from certain nations should be subject to a travel ban, the official said.
“The United States lacks the ability to absorb large numbers of migrants,” the order said.
Undoing Biden actions
At a rally at a sports arena, Trump revoked 78 executive actions of the previous administration.
“I’ll revoke nearly 80 destructive and radical executive actions of the previous administration,” Trump said.
Trump also said he will sign an order directing every agency to preserve all records pertaining to “political persecutions” under the Biden administration.
The rescission applied to executive orders spanning from former President Joe Biden’s first day in office in 2021 to as recently as last week, and covered topics from Covid relief to the promotion of clean energy industries.
