by Alice Littlehale ’26
February 14, 2025
President Trump signed a flurry of executive actions during his first day in office on January 20, fulfilling many of the promises he made during his campaign.
They covered topics from immigration to electric vehicles and have far-reaching implications for the country. Since it can be a struggle to keep them straight, here’s a short summary of every executive order, memorandum, or proclamation President Trump issued on day one.
Flying The Flag Of The United States At Full-Staff On Inauguration Day: Shortly before this proclamation, the flags were flown at half-staff during President Trump’s inauguration in memory of President Carter. After this order went into effect, flags were to be flown at full-staff during all inauguration days, including for the remainder of President Trump’s.
Initial Recessions Of Harmful Executive Orders And Actions: 78 executive orders and memoranda issued by the Biden administration were revoked, as they focused on Diversity Equity and Inclusion and climate initiatives.
Ending The Weaponization Of The Federal Government: This states that the previous administration used Federal law enforcement agencies and the intelligence committee against “perceived political opponents.” This likely refers, in part, to President Trump being investigated by the FBI for his handling of classified documents in 2022, and also the Department of Justice investigating him for efforts to interfere with the transfer of power during the 2020 election. The order states that the Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence should review the actions of all federal law enforcement personnel and the intelligence community for instances where law enforcement was weaponized for political purposes and correct them.
Return to In-Person Work: All federal employees in the executive branch must return to their jobs in-person. No timeline on this change was provided.
Hiring Freeze: No federal civilians may be hired unless they are military personnel, or filling positions related to immigration enforcement, national security, or public safety. In 90 days several Trump administration officials will release a report on how to downsize the Federal Government.
Delivering Emergency Price Relief for American Families and Defeating the Cost of Living Crisis: This memorandum attacks the Biden administration as the cause of inflation, unaffordable housing, and high gas prices. It then orders all departments and agencies in the executive branch to lower the cost of housing, healthcare, gas, and everyday goods, and create employment opportunities. However, it does not outline how these changes should take place.
Putting America First In International Environmental Agreements: Withdraws the United States from the Paris Agreement or any other international climate agreement and prevents any monetary commitment to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Granting Pardons And Commutation of Sentences For Certain Offenses Relating To The Events At Or Near The United States Capitol On January 6, 2021: This commutes the sentences of 14 individuals, gives anyone else convicted of an offense surrounding the Capitol on January 6, 2021 an unconditional pardon, and dismisses any pending cases related to the event.
Application of Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act To TikTok: Delays the TikTok ban for 75 days, despite the ban being passed in Congress and upheld in the Supreme Court. This is likely because Trump hopes that ByteDance will decide to sell TikTok to an American company.
Withdrawing the United States From The World Health Organization: States that the United States is withdrawing from the World Health Organization (WHO), which it was a founding member of in 1948. It lists the reasoning as being that the WHO mishandled the COVID-19 pandemic and relied too heavily on financial support from the United States as compared to its other member countries.
Restoring Accountability To Policy-Influencing Positions Within The Federal Workforce: This classifies thousands of Federal employees as being in “policy-related” positions and strips them of their civil service protections, meaning career Federal workers can be fired at-will for any reason, including lack of loyalty to the political party in power.
Holding Former Government Officials Accountable For Election Interference And Improper Disclosure Of Sensitive Government Information: Revokes the security clearance of 50 former intelligence officials it claims electioneered the 2020 election in favor of President Biden.
Declaring A National Emergency At The Southern Border Of The United States: Classifies illegal immigration at the Southern Border as a national emergency, enhancing his executive powers and allowing him to circumvent Congress for decision making that would normally go through the legislative branch.
Memorandum To Resolve The Backlog Of Security Clearances For Executive Office Of The President Personnel: Grants temporary security clearances to officials within his administration who have not completed the background checks usually necessary to obtain a security clearance.
Clarifying The Military’s Role In Protecting The Territorial Integrity Of The United States: Instructs the military to create a plan assigning troops to the southern border.
Unleashing American Energy: Eliminates the electric vehicle mandate, rescinds a variety of Biden-era climate policies, and makes it the policy of the United States to pursue energy exploration and production on federal lands and waters.
Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness: Mt. Denali, America’s highest peak, will be renamed to Mt. McKinley after the 25th president, and the Gulf of Mexico will be referred to as the Gulf of America.
Realigning the United States Refugee Admissions Program: Suspends the admission of refugees into the country indefinitely.
Securing Our Borders: Revokes Biden-era immigration policies, establishes a border wall, makes it mandatory to pursue criminal charges against those who immigrate illegally, and reinstates many of President Trump’s first-term immigration policies.
Putting People Over Fish: Stopping Radical Environmentalism To Provide Water To Southern California: Routes water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to other parts of California.
Restoring The Death Penalty And Protecting Public Safety: Reinstates Federal Capital Punishment. It also instructs the Attorney General to pursue the death penalty regardless of other factors in a case if the defendant murdered a law enforcement officer, or immigrated illegally and then committed a capital crime. It has the Attorney General reevaluate the 37 felons whose sentences President Biden commuted to determine if they can be charged with other crimes. It instructs the government to seek to overrule Supreme Court rulings that hinder capital punishment.
Promoting Beautiful Federal Civic Architecture: This memorandum states that Federal public buildings should be designed in a classic architectural style.
Restoring Accountability For Career Senior Executives: Emphasizes that Career Senior Executives in the government may be reassigned or fired by Trump administration officials.
Declaring A National Emergency: Declares energy costs a national emergency, boosts the natural gas industry, and calls for the elimination of any climate initiatives stopping natural gas production.
Temporary Withdrawal Of All Areas On The Outer Continental Shelf From Offshore Wind Leasing And Review Of The Federal Government’s Leasing And Permitting Practices For Wind Projects: This withdrawals all areas within the Offshore Continental Shelf from providing space for offshore wind energy projects, like windmills. It also bans any Federal agencies from providing any approval or loans for any wind energy projects, in the water, or on land. Supposedly this action is temporary, but will remain in effect until the President revokes it.
Reevaluating And Realigning United States Foreign Aid: Declares that no foreign aid will be given unless it fully aligns with President Trump’s policies, and places a 90-day pause on all foreign development assistance.
Organization Of The National Security Council And Subcommittees: Details the goals of the council, the roles of its members, and their responsibilities.
Protecting The American People Against Invasion: Orders the enforcement of immigration laws and policies.
Unleashing Alaska’s Extraordinary Resource Potential: Rescinds Biden-era executive orders protecting Alaskan land or wildlife from oil drilling or resource extraction, and makes it the policy of the United States to extract Alaskan resources, particularly natural gas and oil reserves.
Protecting The United States From Foreign Terrorists And Other National Security And Public Safety Threats: Rejects people from certain countries from admission to the United States, and calls for the removal of nationals from those countries who have already been granted entry into the United States. These countries are not listed, and will be identified within the next sixty days.
America First Policy Directive To The Secretary Of State: States that the foreign policy of the United States is to always put American interests first, and orders the Secretary of State to follow this directive.
Establishing And Implementing The President’s “Department Of Government Efficiency:” Renames the United States Digital Service as the Department of Government Efficiency, a temporary organization whose stated goal is to improve and modernize the Federal Government’s IT systems, although it was initially proposed by President Trump as an organization that would cut government spending.
Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism And Restoring Biological Truth To The Federal Government: The United States now recognizes only two sexes, male and female, and states that “gender ideology” cannot be recognized as a replacement for sex. Government issued documents may only reflect the sex of the person at conception, and the federal government will no longer recognize gender identity. It also will force people to be incarcerated in prisons based on their assigned sex at conception, regardless of if they have transitioned. The Trump administration will interpret civil rights protections based on sex as not providing any protections to transgender people.
Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing: Ends federal Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and environmental justice initiatives, offices, and positions.
Reforming The Federal Hiring Process And Restoring Merit To Government Service: Prevents Federal hiring on the basis of race, sex, or religion, and prevents the hiring of individuals who are unwilling to “faithfully serve the executive branch”.
Designating Cartels And Other Organizations As Foreign Terrorist Organizations And Specifically Designated Global Terrorists: Defines specific cartels as terrorist organizations.
Guaranteeing The States Protection Against Invasion: Qualifies the situation at the Southern border as an invasion, and emphasizes the President’s ability to suspend the entry into the United States of “aliens engaged in the invasion across the southern border,” and prevents them from seeking asylum. It does not define who fits into this category. It also states that any “alien” who cannot provide medical information or a criminal history will be denied entry.
These are the executive actions that were signed on just the first day of President Trump’s term. It is important to stay informed about these actions even though the amount may seem overwhelming. They will either dictate American policy for the next four years, or be challenged in the Supreme Court, whose decisions set precedent that affects American life for decades.
