Trump’s team outlines suite of executive orders ahead of his first day as president

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - WASHINGTON — US President-elect Donald Trump will quickly implement executive actions on immigration, energy policy and federal government operations to check off dozens of campaign policy priorities.

Trump on Sunday pledged to issue “close to 100” executive orders on his first day in office. Many of these orders will be designed to reverse or eliminate ones implemented by the Biden administration.

Stephen Miller, Trump’s incoming deputy chief of staff for policy, previewed some of those actions Sunday afternoon on a call with senior congressional Republicans.

Two sources briefed on the call described it as a rundown of what lawmakers should expect, rather than an in-depth policy briefing. Trump’s policy operation was expected to deliver more details to Capitol Hill allies later Sunday, the sources said. They cautioned the scale and pace leading up to the inauguration have made communication and information fluid.

Miller, in the briefing with lawmakers, confirmed elements of a long-planned, sweeping suite of immigration actions, including Trump invoking a national emergency at the border as a way to unlock funding from the Defense Department for the administration’s use.

Trump will also move to designate a series of drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations and direct his administration to reinstate his first-term Migrant Protection Protocol policy, which is more commonly referred to as “Remain in Mexico.”

Trump will act to reinstate a series of his first-term immigration policy directives and actions that President Joe Biden rescinded on his own first day in office in 2021.

“Within hours of taking office, I will sign dozens of executive orders — close to 100 to be exact — many of which I will be describing in my address tomorrow,” Trump said to a crowd of donors and allies at a pre-inauguration dinner Sunday.

He added, “With the stroke of my pen I will revoke dozens of destructive and radical executive orders and actions of the Biden administration, and by this time tomorrow, they will all be null and void.”

These expected executive orders will likely face immediate legal challenges.

The federal government and its operations will also be a central focus in the first hours of Trump’s second term, with the actions Miller previewed including an executive order, known as Schedule F, that would curtail or eliminate job protections for federal workers. Trump signed a version of the executive order shortly before the 2020 election, but it was rescinded by Biden.

Actions will also be taken to officially outline the role and authorities of the Department of Government Efficiency, led by billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. Musk’s operation, which has been working out of the Washington office of one of his companies, SpaceX, has been quietly staffing up and integrating with the Trump transition operation’s agency landing teams over the last several weeks.

Trump will sign executive orders rescinding federal government diversity, equity and inclusion policies, Miller told the lawmakers, as well as actions to remove specific gender-related executive orders put in place by Biden.

Trump is also expected to declare a national emergency related to energy as part of a significant number of actions targeting domestic energy production and the industries, permitting rules and lands that operate in the sector, according to Miller’s briefing. — CNN