President-elect Donald Trump spent the past two years on the campaign trail making more than a dozen promises about what he would enact on his first day in office.
Trump’s day-one plans are wide-reaching, calling for the mass deportation of undocumented immigrants, sweeping tariffs that economists have warned could have drastic and harmful effects on the U.S. economy and pardons of defendants charged in the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
On the first day of his previous term, Trump signed just one executive order, which targeted Obamacare. Here are some of Trump’s most notable day-one promises this time around.
Immigration
Begin a mass deportation program
As he did during his previous campaigns, Trump made immigration the centerpiece of his 2024 pitch, repeatedly vowing to deport undocumented migrants. On Oct. 27, just days before the election, Trump reiterated during a rally in New York City, “On day one, I will launch the largest deportation program in American history to get the criminals out.” In 2022, the number of undocumented migrants living in the U.S. stood at nearly 11 million according to a federal estimate, though the exact number is unknown.
When asked in November about the cost of a mass deportation plan, Trump told NBC News that “it’s not a question of a price tag.” That same month, Trump confirmed a post by another Truth Social user, who wrote that the Trump administration would be “prepared to declare a national emergency and will use military assets” for a deportation program. Trump shared the post, writing, “TRUE!!!”
End birthright citizenship
Anyone who is born in the U.S. is automatically granted citizenship, a right laid out in the 14th Amendment. Trump wants to change it, a logistically difficult operation that would almost certainly lead to legal battles. In a December interview on NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” moderator Kristen Welker asked Trump whether it was still his plan to end birthright citizenship on day one. Trump said, “Absolutely.”
