Recap of Recent Trump Policies

Since last week, the policy directives have come out of the White House at a furious pace. Even though the election was decided by very close margins the Trump administration is falsely acting as if its policies have broad nationwide support. The Administration is acting as fast as it can to implement as much of Project 2025 as possible, even though there is no broad bipartisan support for these policy changes. The latest AAPI Data/AP-NORC Survey revealed that the majority of AAPI adults have little to no confidence in Trump’s ability to govern key areas.

In the past, enforcement-only immigration bills such as the Laken Riley Act, which mandates ICE arrest and deport undocumented migrants accused of committing low level crimes such as theft, burglary, larceny, or shoplifting offenses with little or no due process, would need some positive immigration reform amendments to be included in order to pass. Instead, this one-side enforcement measure has made it to the president’s desk for signature with lightning speed.

AAPI immigrant rights advocates have understood that the best chances of passing immigration reforms that help the AAPI community and improve our nation’s antiquated immigration system has been to pursue a comprehensive solution which would require negotiating between the many parts that make up our immigration system. Broadly speaking, these parts include the legal immigration system (including green cards for families and employment, temporary visas for employment, education, and other purposes, refugee and asylee seekers), enforcement (including border security, immigration law enforcement) and addressing the status of those who are in the U.S. without legal immigration status.Immigration advocates know that a comprehensive approach to reform is needed since we cannot reduce illegal immigration with a deportation only approach given that the current immigration system does not provide sufficient legal pathways into the U.S.

To be clear, these head-spinning changes and policy reversals are not going unchecked. Last week a federal judge in Seattle tapped the brakes on President Trump’s executive order on birthright citizenship saying the EO was “blatantly unconstitutional”. Similarly, when the administration issued a memo to federal agencies ordering a freeze on federal grants and loans causing immense confusion and concern nationwide, they were forced to quickly follow up with a clarifying memo in an attempt to quell the uproar. Ultimately, the administration rescinded the federal funding freeze altogether. Furthermore, in a lawsuit brought forth by nonprofit groups that receive federal money, a federal district court judge in Washington, DC temporarily stopped the funding freeze from going into effect. Even with the court action, there have been multiple reports of federal funding-related websites going dark – adding chaos to the uncertainty. On the one hand, whenever the White House issues an executive order, directive or memo, we must take these actions seriously however, we must also keep in mind that there are avenues, including political pressure, public demand and litigation to fight back on any harmful actions.

While the administration can act quickly with its attempts to make drastic policy changes, Congress is not structured to legislate changes to our nation’s federal policies as rapidly; however, the warp speed with which the Laken Riley Act passed should have us all on our guard to act quickly. The need to act fast is especially important as House Republicans are planning to bring the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act (HR 22, the SAVE Act) to a vote, which would require proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections. This requirement will create difficulties for people who don’t have easy access to key documents such as a birth certificate or passport. The bill passed the House last year only to face pushback in the Senate. Reports have shown that it is difficult for many Americans to access the documents needed to prove citizenship. The bill would derail the convenient ways to register such as mail-in registration and online registration through state government websites. APIAVote will be monitoring the scheduling of House legislative action and will reach out to our partners as soon as we learn when this bill will be on the floor for debate, which could be as early as next week.