/>iFollowing his inauguration on Jan. 20, 2025, President Donald Trump signed several executive orders designed to advance his immigration agenda. The orders include:
- Ending Birthright Citizenship
- Enhanced Vetting
- Creating “Homeland Security Task Forces”
- Ending Birthright Citizenship
This order directs federal agencies to refuse to recognize U.S. citizenship for children born in the United States to mothers in the country illegally, or who are present in the United States on non-immigrant visas, if the father is not a U.S. citizen or green card holder.
The order will deny U.S. citizenship, including passports, to children born in the United States 30 days from Jan. 20, 2025, if at least one parent is not an American citizen or green card holder. It is not clear what status, if any, these children will be deemed to hold upon birth in the U.S.
Court challenges to the order are expected. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled more than a century ago that children born in the United States to foreign parents are U.S. citizens under the 14th Amendment. See United States v. Wong Kim Ark, 169 U.S. 649 (1898). The only legally recognized exception applies when both parents are diplomats with immunity from U.S. laws.
Two dozen states and cities have filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts challenging President Trump’s executive order regarding birthright citizenship. While the litigation is pending, employees on non-immigrant visas who are due to give birth more than 30 days from Jan. 20, 2025, should evaluate the eligibility of their children for non-immigrant visas.
- Enhanced Vetting
President Trump has signed an order to “enhance vetting and screening of illegal aliens.” The order directs agencies to provide recommendations to the president for suspending entry of migrants from “countries of particular concern.”
During his first administration, President Trump banned travel from countries, including Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen for 90 days with certain exceptions. The bans were challenged in court, but they were ultimately upheld by the Supreme Court in Trump v. Hawaii, et al., 585 U.S. 667, 138 S. Ct. 2392 (2018).
It is not clear which countries may be the targets of travel bans under the second Trump Administration, or when travel bans may take effect. Employees from countries that have been the targets of prior travel bans may wish to reconsider foreign travel or, if currently abroad, return to the United States as soon as possible. Jackson Lewis will monitor developments and provide updates.
- Creating “Homeland Security Task Forces”
President Trump has signed an executive order to establish “federal homeland security task forces” to enable federal, state, and local law enforcement to cooperate in removing gang members, criminals, and undocumented individuals. The willingness of local law enforcement to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) varies significantly across jurisdictions. The executive order also prioritizes execution of the immigration laws against all inadmissible and removable aliens.
Employers, particularly those with who employ large numbers of individuals with temporary work authorization, should have an action plan in place in the event of an ICE enforcement actions, also known as raids. Jackson Lewis attorneys can assist in the development of action plans and staff training.
- Reinstating the “Remain in Mexico” Policy, Ending “Catch and Release,” and Eliminating the “CBP One App”
President Trump has revoked President Joe Biden’s Executive Order 13993 – Revision of Civil Immigration Enforcement Policies and Priorities, designed to prioritize the removal of individuals convicted of violent offenses while strengthening family reunification policies. President Trump has reinstated the “Remain in Mexico” policy, ended the longstanding practice of “Catch and Release,” and eliminated the CBP One App.
Remain in Mexico
Remain in Mexico, a policy implemented during the first Trump Administration, requires asylum seekers to wait in Mexico, rather than the United States, while their asylum applications are processed by U.S. immigration courts. It is unclear if Mexico will cooperate with this policy during the second Trump Administration.
Individuals in the United States with pending asylum applications are eligible to apply for work authorization once their asylum applications have been pending for at least six months. In the face of lengthy adjudication backlogs, USCIS currently issues asylum seekers work authorization documents valid for five years.
It is unclear if individuals in the United States with pending asylum applications will continue to receive work authorization documents valid for five years, or if there will be efforts to suspend work authorization for these individuals entirely. Jackson Lewis attorneys will monitor developments and provide updates.
Ending Catch and Release
“Catch and release” refers to the practice of releasing detained individuals into the community to wait for their cases to be processed by immigration courts. The term, which originated during the first Bush Administration, has been implemented during every administration since, including the first Trump Administration, due to limitations related to available detention space.
Elimination of the CBP One App
President Trump has eliminated CBP One, an app that granted appointments, based on a lottery system, to 1,450 people per day at one of eight border crossings. Individuals granted appointments were “paroled” into the United States pursuant to presidential authority.
Once in the United States, these individuals were permitted to apply for work authorization, and they often also apply for asylum. It is unclear if individuals currently in the United States pursuant to Biden-era humanitarian parole, which protects them from deportation, will be able to renew their parole and work authorization. Jackson Lewis attorneys will monitor developments and provide updates.
Other executive orders designed to enhance President Trump’s immigration agenda include:
- Suspending Refugee Resettlement
President Trump has revoked President Biden’s Executive Order 14013 – Rebuilding and Enhancing Programs to Resettle Refugees and Planning for the Impact of Climate Change on Migration, designed to enhance refugee resettlement programs. President Trump has signed an executive order suspending the Refugee Resettlement Program for an initial 90 days.
Pursuant to Executive Order 14013, nearly 1,660 Afghans cleared to resettle in the United States, including family members of active-duty military personnel, have been removed from flights to the United States.
The new Executive Order directs the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department to issue a report every 90 days to enable President Trump to determine whether the program “would be in the interests of the United States.”
- Clarifying the Military’s Role in “Protecting the Territorial Integrity of the United States”
This order directs the military to “repel forms of invasion including unlawful mass migration, narcotics trafficking, human smuggling and trafficking, and other criminal activities.”
- Declaring a National Emergency at the Southern Border
President Trump’s declaration of a national emergency along the U.S.-Mexico border permits the Department of Defense to deploy armed forces to the border to free up resources to build a wall and erect other barriers. The Secretary of Defense is specifically directed to deploy troops and National Guardsmen to the border.
- Designating Cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations
President Trump has signed an order designating drug cartels and other criminal organizations, including the MS-13 and Tren de Aragua gangs, which originated in El Salvador and Venezuela, respectively, as foreign terrorist organizations, or Specifically Designated Global Terrorists.
The order, which cites the Alien Enemies Act enacted more than 200 years ago, specifically directs authorities to remove members of the Tren de Agua on the ground that the group is conducting an invasion of the United States.
- Denying Asylum to Individuals Apprehended Between Ports of Entry
President Trump has revoked President Biden’s Executive Order 14010 – Creating a Comprehensive Regional Framework to Address the Causes of Migration, to Manage Migration Throughout North and Central America, and to Provide Safe and Orderly Processing of Asylum Seekers at the United States Border. The order was designed to ensure that individuals’ asylum applications could be processed at the border, discouraging dangerous undocumented crossings while facilitating the entry of individuals who had waited in Mexico for prolonged periods while their asylum applications were processed, specifically those subject to the Migrant Protection Protocols instituted by the first Trump Administration. President Trump’s order renders individuals apprehended while attempting to cross the border between ports of entry ineligible for asylum, subjecting them to immediate removal from the United States without the opportunity to apply for asylum.
It is not clear what will happen to asylum seekers currently in ICE custody who were apprehended attempting to cross the border before Trump took office.
- Restoring the Death Penalty When a Law Enforcement Officer Is Murdered
President Trump has signed an executive order directing the attorney general to seek the death penalty when an undocumented individual murders a law enforcement officer or commits another capital crime.
States attorney generals and district attorneys are also encouraged to pursue the death penalty when an undocumented individual murders a law enforcement officer.
President Trump has also revoked Biden-era executive orders that have not yet been replaced with President’s Trump’s own executive orders.
For example, President Trump has revoked President Biden’s Executive Order 14012 – Restoring Faith In Our Legal Immigration Systems and Strengthening Integration and Inclusion Efforts for New Americans. This order established USCIS deference to prior decisions in certain cases, for instance H-1B extensions, streamlined the naturalization process, and reduced the number of Requests for Evidence and denials received by employers and individuals applying for immigration benefits. The outcome of these revocations is not yet clear.
