Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Background In the summer of 2024, during a
X (Twitter) discussion with Trump,
Elon Musk proposed the establishment of a
government efficiency commission, saying, "I think it would be great to just have a government efficiency commission that takes a look at these things and just ensures that the taxpayer money, the taxpayers hard-earned money is spent in a good way. I'd be happy to help out on such a commission." During an interview with
Reuters, Trump said he was open to giving Musk an advisory role in his administration and on September 5, 2024, he officially announced that "at the suggestion of Elon Musk... I will create a Government Efficiency Commission tasked with conducting a complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government and making recommendations for drastic reforms."
The New York Times compared the project to other Presidents like
Theodore Roosevelt's
Keep Commission,
Ronald Reagan's
Grace Commission, and vice president
Al Gore's
National Partnership for Reinventing Government. After his election victory on
November 5, 2024, Trump announced that Elon Musk and
Vivek Ramaswamy would serve as co-chairs of DOGE to dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies. Ramaswamy parted with the incoming Trump administration to pursue a run for
Ohio Governor in the
2026 US elections. After being inaugurated for a second term, Trump signed an executive order formally establishing three DOGE entities. The Department of Government Efficiency, the United States DOGE Service (USDS): formed from the reorganization of the
United States Digital Service, and the DOGE Service Temporary Organization, with the USDS serving as its parent organization. The DOGE Temporary Organization was given an expiration date of July 4, 2026. DOGE teams were established for federal agencies with each team consisting of four members: a team leader, an engineer, an HR specialist, and an attorney. DOGE Documents are classified as presidential records, preventing public access to the information until at least 2034.
Immigration policy Trump made immigration policy, particularly cracking down on the
United States-Mexico border crisis, a center point of his campaign, and many of his early actions focused on this issue. Upon taking office on January 20, 2025, Trump signed an array of executive orders towards immigration reform and ending much of his predecessor's
policies on Immigration. Within minutes of the
Second Trump presidency, the
U.S. Customs and Border Protection shut down the
CBP One app Throughout the early days of his presidency, Trump signed
executive orders that declared a second national emergency on the southern border; enabling the deployment of armed forces and addressing the
fentanyl crisis, the designation of international Drug Cartels as
foreign terrorist organizations, repealing a Biden executive order that created the Family Reunification Task Force, suspending the
Refugee Admissions Program for 90 days, ended the
CNHV Parole Program for nationals from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, and attempting to end
birthright citizenship for descendants of illegal immigrants who were born in America. Policies and initiatives revived from Trump's first term include
Remain in Mexico, construction on the US-Mexico border, and travel bans. On January 22, 2025, Trump revoked guidance from 2011 prohibiting illegal migrant arrests in areas such as courthouses, schools, churches, and hospitals, or during funerals and weddings. On March 1, Trump signed an
executive order designating English as the official language of the United States On March 10, 2025, the Department of Homeland Security rebranded the CBP One app as CBP Home to allow illegal migrants to identify themselves and self-deport. DHS Secretary
Kristi Noem announced that migrants who self-deport may have an opportunity to return to the United States legally in the future. March 13, 2025, the Trump administration requested permission from the Supreme Court to allow restrictions on birthright citizenship to partly take effect in several states while its implementation and ongoing legal battles continued. On March 15, 2025, President Trump invoked the
Alien Enemies Act of 1798, the first use of such since
World War II, in order to ensure the deportations of suspected members of the Venezuelan gang
Tren de Aragua. A federal judge has temporarily blocked deportations under this order, citing concerns about due process. Despite this, the Trump administration still carried out the deportations of 250 suspected gang members to
El Salvador, citing security concerns.
Laken Riley Act and expansion of the Guantanamo Migrant Operations Center On January 29, 2025, Trump signed the
Laken Riley Act into law, the first legislation of
Trump's second term. The law is named after
Laken Riley, a nursing student who was murdered by an illegal immigrant in 2024. It requires the
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detain illegal aliens accused or charged with theft-related crimes, and those accused of assaulting a police officer. It also allows states to sue the
Department of Homeland Security for harm caused by illegals to citizens and for failure to enforce immigration laws. After signing the Laken Riley Act into law, Trump signed a presidential memorandum to order the
Pentagon and Department of Homeland Security to begin the expansion of the
migrant operations center in the Guantanamo Bay naval base, separate from the
Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp military prison, to house up to 30,000 "high priority" illegal migrant detainees. The operations center was previously used to temporarily house migrants during prior presidencies. In the days following the announcement, more than 1000 troops were deployed to Guantanamo to begin the expansion. Between 178 and 256 illegal migrants, many being deported back to their countries, had passed through the base and only 20 remained on March 6, 2025. By early March 2025, the Trump administration was rethinking the expansion at Guantanamo as major legal, logistical and financial hurdles had arisen. The space for 30,000 illegal migrants was still under construction and tents built for detainees did not meet ICE standards for detention. As the mission at Guantanamo was changing, the Pentagon was reportedly considering bringing home some of the over 1,000 troops that were sent for deployment home. On February 26, 2025, Department of Homeland Security secretary,
Kristi Noem, announced that more than 20,000 illegal migrants were arrested in February and ICE arrests have skyrocketed 627% compared to the Biden Era arrests and that border crossings had declined by 90%.
Legal immigration A
Trump Gold Card will be a type of
residency permit for the
United States that allows investors a path to residency and citizenship if they commit at least $5 million to projects in the US. A key difference from the EB5 program, the United States' current path for investors to gain residency that the Gold Card intends to replace, is that Gold Card holders are not liable for US federal income tax on income earned outside the US. There are constitutional questions about executive authority for this kind of change to immigration and tax law without express Congressional approval. It is unclear what would happen to the US federal taxability of a Gold Card holder's non-US income if the holder becomes a US citizen.
Mass deportation of immigrants – Statistics Economic policy Inflation remained a persistent topic during Trump's
2024 campaign and dominant issue of the
subsequent election. After taking office on January 20, 2025, Trump inherited a resilient economy from the Biden administration, with inflation rates having declined from its 40-year highs, but remaining a heavy burden on Americans and above the Federal Reserve's 2% rate. The unemployment rate was 4.4%, the inflation rate ranged from 2.2% to 2.4%, and the national debt was approximately $36.2 trillion. During Trump's first term, the US faced increases in national debt; as did with previous presidencies,
tariffs on US trading partners, and
economic downturn resulting from the
COVID-19 pandemic. Since becoming president, Trump has imposed
tariffs on
China and initially promised tariffs on
Canada and
Mexico, before rescheduling the tariff dates. During a Fox News interview with
Maria Bartiromo on March 9, 2025, Trump did not rule out the possibility that the US economy would enter a
recession. He said his economic policy would cause short-term turbulence but would be economically beneficial in the long term. Treasury Secretary
Scott Bessent said on March 16, 2025, that there are "no guarantees" that US economy will not enter a recession.
Tariffs On February 1, 2025, Trump signed three executive orders imposing a 25 percent tariff on all goods from Mexico and Canada and a 10 percent tariff on China, originally due to take effect on February 4. A lower 10 percent tariff was announced for all
energy exports from Canada, including
electricity,
natural gas, and
oil. Trump's trade advisor,
Peter Navarro, stated that the lower rate for energy was intended to "minimize any disruptive effects". In response, representatives from Mexico and Canada announced intentions to impose retaliatory tariffs on the United States, which if implemented could lead to an increase in tariff rates in accordance with a
clause reportedly included in the orders signed by Trump. On February 3, Trump announced that the tariffs on both Mexico and Canada would be paused for one month after the countries agreed to take further steps to prevent the trafficking of drugs into the United States. On March 3, Trump announced he would impose the tariffs on Canada, China, and Mexico. The tariffs went into effect on March 4 triggering a trade war with Canada, China, and Mexico. On April 2, a day Trump nicknamed "
Liberation Day", Trump announced a baseline 10% universal import tariff on all imported goods as well as even higher rates for 57 trading partners. These tariffs and retaliatory tariffs from other nations resulted in an immediate U.S.
stock market crash and resulted in a
bear market.
Diversity, equity, and inclusion Trump signed numerous executive orders to roll back
diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies. On his first day in office, he signed an executive order titled "
Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government," which required federal departments to recognize gender as a
male–female binary determined by
sex assigned at conception and ceased all funding for
gender-affirming care. Trump also signed
an order which ordered federal agencies to fire all workers involved in diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. Trump signed
another executive order partially revoking
Equal Employment Opportunity and banning government contracts from being given to private organizations which enforce DEI frameworks. On February 5, Trump signed
an order intending to bar
transgender athletes from competing in girls' and women's sports. At a press conference held in January 2025, the day after a
mid-air collision between an airplane and helicopter that killed 67 people, the worst aviation accident in the U.S. since 2001, Trump read from a January 2024
New York Post article that said "the FAA is actively recruiting workers who suffer severe intellectual disabilities, psychiatric problems and other mental and physical conditions under a diversity and inclusion hiring initiative spelled out on the agency's website." ==Foreign policy==