On January 20, 2021, President Joe Biden signed a series of Day One executive orders pausing border wall construction, rejoining the Paris Climate Accords, and instating “equity”- and climate-focused regulatory initiatives popular among progressives. Many of the outgoing president’s Inauguration Day policies will leave 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue with him.
President-elect Donald Trump heads into today’s swearing-in ceremony with plans to sign a flurry of Day One executive orders cracking down on illegal immigration, lifting restrictions on firing federal employees, and reversing scores of Biden-era regulatory policies related to energy and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).
“Every radical and foolish executive order of the Biden administration will be repealed within hours of when I take the oath of office,” Trump told a crowd of supporters at an inauguration eve rally on Sunday.
Border security will be a heavy focus of the president’s first few days back in the White House. According to press reports, the president’s incoming White House deputy chief of staff for policy, Stephen Miller, said on a Sunday phone call with Republican lawmakers and aides that on his first day in office, Trump plans to sign executive orders declaring a national emergency at the U.S.–Mexico border and reinstating his first administration’s pandemic-era era “Remain in Mexico” policy, which would require migrants seeking asylum to live in Mexico while their claims are being handled.
His lieutenants are planning to follow through on his campaign pledge to kickstart the largest mass deportation effort in history, with incoming border czar Tom Homan telling Fox News last week that the administration will begin targeted raids on immigrants living in sanctuary cities during the week the president takes office.
Also on Day One, Trump reportedly plans to sign executive orders undoing Biden-era policies that ban drilling offshore and on large swaths of federal land, including the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). He is also expected to reverse Biden-era electric vehicle policies, withdraw from the Paris Climate Accords, and reinstate a policy called Schedule F, which would make it easier for his administration to fire federal employees. He has also pledged to pardon many of the defendants who were charged for storming the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, soon after taking office.
The president also has a big decision to make on TikTok, the video-sharing app that faces a ban on its continued U.S. operations unless it divest from its Chinese-owned parent company ByteDance, based on a law that took effect on January 19. Outgoing president Joe Biden, who signed the bipartisan TikTok ban into law last spring, declined to enforce the law before leaving office, effectively leaving the politics of its enactment to his predecessor and successor.
Trump said in a social media post on Sunday that he will grant TikTok an extension on the deadline soon after taking office.
“I will issue an executive order on Monday to extend the period of time before the law’s prohibitions take effect, so that we can make a deal to protect our national security,” Trump wrote. “The order will also confirm that there will be no liability for any company that helped keep TikTok from going dark before my order.”
The app briefly went dark for American users on Saturday but then began restoring service the following day after Trump’s comments.
“I would like the United States to have a 50% ownership position in a joint venture,” Trump added in his Sunday morning post. “By doing this, we save TikTok, keep it in good hands and allow it to say up. Without U.S. approval, there is no Tik Tok. With our approval, it is worth hundreds of billions of dollars – maybe trillions.”