White House touts feverish first month, success on immigration
By Morgan Sweeney
The Center Square
Several key advisers in the Trump administration joined White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt Thursday to publicize the administration’s actions in its first month, including a long-time high in executive orders and a major crackdown on illegal immigration.
President Donald Trump has signed 73 executive orders to date, which Leavitt said was “more than double the number signed by Joe Biden” and “more than quadruple the number signed by Barack Obama over the same period.”
Leavitt touted Trump's tally as a point of pride helping facilitate an "historic" level of accomplishment and restoring "common sense.”
The orders have “ended burdensome regulations,” revivified American energy, “eliminated divisive DEI from our federal government,” and cut fraud, waste and abuse.
Among the 26 executive orders Trump signed on his first day in office were multiple concerning energy, diversity, equity and inclusion policies and trimming what Trump sees as unnecessary bureaucratic excess. With one, he declared a "National Energy Emergency" and authorized executive agencies to use emergency powers to facilitate the acquisition of needed domestic energy resources.
With another, he made it American policy to “encourage energy exploration” and declared an “immediate review of all agency actions” that might interfere with the development of domestic energy. Trump called for the termination of all DEI programs in government within 60 days. He rescinded over 60 of Biden’s executive orders with EO 14148, and he created the Department of Government Efficiency through another, which claims to have cut $55 billion in wasteful government spending thus far.
Leavitt also noted orders securing the border and Trump’s signing of the Laken Riley Act, which Leavitt said “ensures ICE will detain illegal aliens who are arrested or charged with theft or violence."
Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller highlighted the changes to immigration policy that have occurred within the past few weeks, saying there’s been a “sea change.”
“Today, it is officially the law of the land… that six Mexican cartels and two transnational gangs… eight organizations in total are now formally designated as foreign terrorist organizations,” Miller told the press. “There will be a whole-of-government effort to remove these terrorists from our soil and to degrade their ability to threaten or undermine any American security or sovereignty interests.”
Border crossings are down 95%, according to Miller.
“I think it’s almost impossible to describe the scale and scope of that achievement,” Miller said.