President Trump's First Day

What he did, and what it means for you.

At 12:02 p.m. on Monday, President Donald Trump raised his right hand and took the oath of office. He wasted no time breaking out his signature Sharpie pen and signing a flurry of executive actions: issuing more than 1,000 pardons, undoing dozens of Biden-era policies, and enacting a far-reaching agenda of his own — parts of which will soon be tested in the courts.

In total, Trump signed 26 executive orders, 12 memoranda, and four proclamations on Day One.

Whether you agree or disagree with what he’s done, Trump’s actions have the force of law, which means it’s important for all citizens to understand them and what they mean. But I know the sheer number of orders makes it hard to keep up with all of them — which is why I’ve read everything Trump signed, and have organized it into one easy-to-follow format here.

Here’s a roundup of the most important actions to know about, with context on their history and legality (and links so you can read them for yourself):

January 6th pardons

After the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol — which took place amid Trump’s false claims of 2020 election fraud — the Justice Department launched what became the largest criminal investigation in U.S. history, ultimately charging more than 1,500 of the rioters in federal court.

They are all now poised to walk free, after Trump offered a “full, complete and unconditional pardon” to nearly every individual “convicted of offenses related to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021.”

The only exceptions were 14 members of two far-right militia groups, the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, who didn’t receive pardons — but did have their sentences commuted. A commutation is a lower form of clemency: unlike a pardon, it doesn’t completely wipe away a conviction, so recipients are still unable to vote or buy a gun. But because Trump commuted their sentences to “time served as of January 20, 2025,” the 14 were still ordered to be freed from prison.

Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes after being released from prison Tuesday

Trump’s action was broader than what even VP JD Vance had previously endorsed, pardoning only non-violent offenders. Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes are among those who have already been released from prison. Trump also ordered the Justice Department to dismiss pending indictments against rioters who have yet to be convicted, and that has begun to happen as well.

Read Trump’s pardon order here.

Birthright citizenship

Under the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” This is known as “birthright citizenship,” and the U.S. is one of 33 countries that has it to such a broad extent.

Historically, the provision has been seen as including anyone born in the U.S. — no matter the citizenship status of their parents. However, some conservatives have long argued that the inclusion of the phrase “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” means that the children of parents who are in the U.S. illegally should not receive automatic citizenship.

Trump signed an executive order to implement that more restrictive interpretation, prohibiting the federal government from recognizing the citizenship of future children born in the U.S. to undocumented migrants or parents with student, work, or tourist visas.

This move is highly controversial, and sure to spark a protracted legal battle: 18 states and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) have already filed lawsuits seeking to block the order.

Because presidents cannot change the Constitution, what Trump is hoping to do is to force a legal showdown for the purpose of getting the Supreme Court to reinterpret what the phrase “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” means. If the Supreme Court were to reinterpret the 14th amendment, it would not retroactively apply to people who have already been granted birthright citizenship, it would only take effect moving forward.

Read Trump’s birthright citizenship order here.

Delaying the TikTok ban

Under a bipartisan law that passed in 2023, the video app TikTok was supposed to be banned on Sunday, due to national security concerns about its Chinese ownership. But, the app ended up going dark for only a few hours last weekend, after TikTok secured a preemptive pledge from Trump that he wouldn’t enforce the ban.

On Monday, we got the full details of that pledge. Citing the “unfortunate timing” of the law — which went into effect a day before his term began — Trump signed an order instructing the Justice Department “not to take any action to enforce” the ban for 75 days. Trump said he would use the time to negotiate a more permanent resolution. (He has floated an arrangement in which the U.S. government would own 50% of TikTok.)

This is another one with an uncertain legal future. Under the 2023 law, tech companies (like Apple or Google) could face hefty fines for allowing users to download TikTok in violation of the measure. Trump also ordered officials to “issue a letter to each provider” ensuring them that the fines won’t be imposed — but, for the moment, at least, TikTok remains unavailable on the Apple and Google app stores, as the tech giants assess their position.

Read Trump’s TikTok order here.

More border moves

Immigration has long been Trump’s signature policy issue, so it wasn’t a surprise to see him make a slew of other border-related executive actions on Monday. We’ve previously written about many of these issues, so see this article for additional context.

In addition to the birthright citizenship order, Trump also issued orders:

• Attempting to completely seal the border by “suspending the physical entry of aliens involved in an invasion into the United States across the southern border until I determine that the invasion has concluded.”

• Declaring a national emergency at the border, which will allow the military to deploy service members there and open up federal funds for “additional physical barriers along the southern border” (aka the border wall).

• Making border security a top military priority, directing commanders to draw up a plan for deploying service members to the border within 10 days.

• Suspending the nation’s refugee program, largely ending the practice of admitting individuals fleeing war and persecution. The move will take effect on January 27, after which officials will be empowered to admit refugees on a “case-by-case basis” as they study whether the program should resume.

• Initiating a process to designate cartels and gangs as foreign terrorist organizations.

• Imposing a heightened standard of vetting for individuals seeking visas.

• Ending the practice known as “catch and release” (under which apprehended migrants are released, instead of being detained, as they wait for an immigration court hearing).

• Reviving the “Remain in Mexico” policy (under which migrants coming through Mexico to seek asylum are required to remain in Mexico until their immigration court hearing).

• Abolishing the parole program used by the Biden administration to temporarily allow migrants to come to the U.S. from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela for humanitarian reasons.

• Stopping the use of the CBP One app, which the Biden administration used to schedule appointments for migrants to seek asylum.

The effects of Trump’s moves — many of which are likely to face legal challenges — were immediately felt, as flights were canceled for Afghans cleared for refugee status and appointments axed for migrants who had been seeking asylum through the CBP One app.

Undoing Biden’s policies

All it takes is the flick of a pen for a president to sign an executive order. That means it’s just as easy for such orders to be rescinded by a future president.

In one fell swoop, Trump revoked 78 Biden-era executive orders, including directives that allowed transgender service members, removed Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism, imposed sanctions on Israeli settlers in the West Bank, established a White House Gender Policy Council, and more.

Trump also withdrew from the Paris climate accord, the international agreement setting goals for reducing carbon emissions, and the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations agency that coordinates global responses to world health threats, depriving the WHO of American dollars and American agencies of WHO data. Another order eliminated diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs set up by the Biden administration across government.

And more:

Gender: Trump issued an order announcing that the federal government will recognize “two sexes, male and female,” which are “not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality.” Trump directed all agencies to update their policies to comply with these definitions, including ending the State Department practice of allowing “X” gender markers for non-binary people and prohibiting transgender women from being detained in female prisons.

Federal workforce: Trump brought back a first-term order creating a new category of federal personnel — known as “Schedule F” — which will make it easier to fire tens of thousands of civil servants, while also requiring federal employees to return to in-person work and imposing a freeze on the hiring of new federal civilian employees.

Energy: Trump declared another national emergency, this one aimed at increasing domestic energy production, while freezing new offshore wind leases and beginning the regulatory process to roll back Biden-era energy rules that were meant to encourage the uptake of electric vehicles and regulate products like gas stoves and dishwashers.

Unleashing the DOGE: Trump established Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency,” or “DOGE” — although the “department” ended up being more a renamed version of an existing governmental unit, with a more limited mandate than originally signaled. Musk is expected to have an office in the West Wing; his DOGE co-leader, Vivek Ramaswamy, has departed the initiative amid reputed tensions between the two men.

Death penalty: Trump ordered the Attorney General to “pursue the death penalty for all crimes of a severity demanding its use” and to encourage state officials to do the same.

Foreign aid: Trump paused all foreign assistance for 90 days, pending “reviews of such programs for programmatic efficiency and consistency with United States foreign policy.” The order is not likely to affect aid that has already been congressionally appropriated and distributed, like most aid to Ukraine, or that is part of longer-term arrangements, like most aid to Israel.

What didn’t Trump do?

The new president made a lot of first-day campaign promises while running for the White House, but he didn’t quite fulfill all of them.

Trump pledged to impose a 25% tariff on all products from Mexico and Canada, as well as heightened tariffs on China, on his first day. To Wall Street’s relief, he didn’t do so, instead issuing a memo directing officials to review the nation’s trade policy and threatening to start North American tariffs next month.

He promised to “quickly destroy the ‘deep state,’” referring to career officials within the government. For the most part, those same officials still have their jobs today. In addition, Trump famously said the Russia-Ukraine war would be over within his first 24 hours. The war is ongoing.

But Trump achieved action on the vast majority of his top priorities — covering immigration, energy, and the economy, plus other lower-profile promises, from renaming the “Gulf of Mexico” as the “Gulf of America” to rethinking civic architecture.

And that was just Day 1, out of 1,461 days in his second term. Get ready for a busy four years.