
Six big immigration, Since taking office on 20 January, President Donald Trump has announced a flurry of immigration-related executive orders, paving way for a widespread effort to crack down on undocumented migrants in the US.
In more than 21 actions, Trump has moved to overhaul parts of the US immigration system, including how migrants are processed and deported from the US.
The White House has since publicised some of these efforts. On Friday, the new White House Press Secretary shared images of deportation flights being carried out by military cargo planes.
While Trump has promised “mass deportations” and arrests, it remains unclear how much of his plan is already being implemented.
Here is a breakdown of some of the significant actions taken by Trump on immigration in his first week, and how they compare to past policies.
Deportation of migrants
A cornerstone of Trump’s immigration policy is removing unlawful migrants out of the US and the promise of “mass deportations”.
To that effect, the defence department has said that it will provide military aircrafts to deport more than 5,000 people that have been detained by Border Patrol in San Diego and El Paso, Texas.
ICE statistics show that over 1,000 people were removed or repatriated on Thursday, the fourth day of the Trump administration.
Border czar Tom Homan has vowed that the deportations would increase steadily going forward.
Over the weekend, Trump’s deportation flights caused a brief diplomatic spat after Colombia’s government barred two military planes carrying Colombians deported from the US from landing.
The country’s president, Gustavo Petro, said that “the US can’t treat Colombian migrants like criminals” and that they need to be “treated with dignity”.
His government, however, appears to have agreed to accept the flights after the Trump administration threatened Colombia with punitive tariffs.
Trump has also moved to expand the scope of expedited deportations of undocumented migrants, reviving a policy under his first term that Biden had discontinued.
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Expedited removals were previously limited to areas within 100 miles (160km) of US international borders, and applied to those who did not request asylum or failed to show a legitimate case for asylum.
With Trump’s changes, these removals can now occur anywhere in the US, and will apply to undocumented migrants who can’t prove that they have been in the country for more than two years.
Deportations are not unique to the Trump administration.
Biden carried out deportations as well, with 271,000 immigrants deported to 192 countries in fiscal year 2024.
In total, Biden carried out 1.5 million deportations in his four years, according to figures by the Migration Policy Institute. That is around the same that was carried out under Trump’s first term.