During his first 100 days of his second term, President Donald Trump has issued at least 175 immigration-related executive orders.
There were fewer than 30 immigration actions taken during the same time period in Trump’s first term.
The firehose of executive orders include invoking an archaic wartime law to rapidly deport suspected gang members without due process, and pulling federal agencies like the IRS and the Social Security Administration into immigration enforcement.
The Migration Policy Institute, a non-partisan think tank, analyzed how Trump’s first 100 days has impacted immigration in the article, In First 100 Days, Trump 2.0 Has Dramatically Reshaped the U.S. Immigration System, but Is Not Meeting Mass Deportation Aims.
Kathleen Bush-Joseph, a policy analyst with MPI, co-authored the article.
She said while immigrant encounters at the southern border are at record lows, many of the executive orders are causing alarm amid reports U.S. citizens are being arrested and deported.
“In particular, (the) speed of deportations have raised concerns,” she said. “How all of this is being perceived, in some ways, depends on whether we’re talking about the border or these fast deportation procedures.”
Many of Trump’s orders are being challenged in courts. There have been at least 50 multi-plaintiff lawsuits filed.
Bush-Joseph said there’s an important distinction to make amid the ongoing actions.
“While the Trump administration has taken all of these executive actions — and they have in many ways reshaped the U.S. immigration system — they have not changed the immigration laws because only Congress can do that,” she said.
View a video briefing on the MPI report below:
