On Friday, January 20, Donald Trump was sworn into office as the President of the United States of America. In the following two weeks, he has taken a startling number of executive actions, some of which have caused considerable uproar throughout the country (and the world).

Cabinet Picks

Secretary of State: Rex Tillerson

Secretary of the Treasury: Steven Mnuchin

Secretary of Defense: General James Mattis

Secretary of Justice: Senator Jeff Sessions

Secretary of Education: Betsy DeVos

Secretary of Homeland Security: Retired General John Kelly

Secretary of Housing and Urban Development: Ben Carson

Secretary of Energy: Former Texas Governor Rick Perry

Secretary of Labor: Alexander Acosta

Secretary of Transportation: Elaine Chao

Secretary of Interior: Representative of Montana Ryan Zinke

Secretary of Commerce: Wilbur Ross

Secretary of Agriculture:  Sonny Perdue

Secretary of Veteran Affairs: Dr. David Shulkin

Head of the Environmental Protection Agency: Scott Pruitt

Ambassador to the United Nations: Governor of South Carolina Nikki Haley

Director of the CIA: Representative of Kansas Mike Pompeo

Immigration Ban

The most tumultuous of Trump’s orders, the Immigration Ban states, “I hereby suspend entry into the United States, as immigrants and nonimmigrants, of such persons for 90 days from the date of this order.” The order targets people from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Yemen, and Somalia, countries that were identified as terrorist hotbeds by the Obama Administration. Trump has also blocked most refugees from immigrating for the next 120 days. Multiple judges froze parts of this order, ruling that those already traveling to the United States or in the country currently should not be deported.

Wall on the Mexican Border

In an event highly anticipated from his campaign, Trump ordered several agencies to get to work trying to fund his wall on the Mexio-US border. He also called for 5,000 more border patrol agents.

Deportations and Sanctuary Cities

Trump is trying to ramp up deportations of those in the country who are undocumented, specifically those who have committed or are being charged with a crime. Local police forces are now allowed to act as immigration officials when possible, which goes against previous rulings of separation of federal and local officers. Trump has also said that sanctuary cities (like Chicago) will stop receiving federal funding.

Affordable Care Act

Trump has approved that all agency heads can waive requirements of the Affordable Care Act to the “maximum extent permitted by law.”

Speeding approval of Dakota Access and Keystone Oil Pipelines

Despite protesters’ belief that the Dakota Access Pipeline would be rerouted because of army intervention, Trump said he would expedite the TransCanada application for the pipeline.

Trans-Pacific Partnership

The president has withdrawn the United States from all TPP negotiations and from signing the trade deal.

Abortion

Trump has reinstated the “Mexico City” policy, which removes federal funding for any international organizations that support abortion services.  

ISIS Strategy

Trump has ordered that a new plan to fight the Islamic State be drafted within 30 days.

Speeding up Environmental Reviews

Trump ordered several agencies to work to speed up environmental reviews for “high priority” infrastructure projects.

Financial Regulations

On February 3, Trump issued an order taking the first step towards relaxing financial regulations put in place during Obama’s presidency. This includes the 2008 Dodd-Frank Law enacted after the financial crisis. These laws, put in place to protect consumers, anger Wall Street and many Republican lawmakers. Relax regulations will gain the support of business moguls, but may have long term economic repercussions. Trump has also called for all federal agencies and departments that propose a new regulation to then repeal two previous regulations. The  goal is for the cost of all regulations in fiscal 2017 to be “no greater than zero.”

Lobbyist Bans

Trump has ordered that all executive appointees sign a pledge that asserts that they will not lobby for their former agencies for five years, lobby for any agency while Trump is president, or ever lobby for any foreign agency.