Trump signs sweeping executive actions on immigration, launches fight to end birthright citizenship | CNN Politics
Updated 12:30 AM EST, Tue January 21, 2025
Washington
CNN
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President Donald Trump began his term by taking a series of sweeping immigration executive actions Monday that included declaring a national emergency at the US southern border, immediately ending use of a border app called CBP One that had allowed migrants to legally enter the United States, and kicking off the process to end birthright citizenship, which is expected to tee up a legal fight.
Trump also made a striking personnel move, as senior leadership at the Justice Department’s agency overseeing the nation’s immigration courts were removed from service on Monday, according to a source familiar. The Executive Office for Immigration Review oversees the US immigration court system, where immigration judges decide if immigrants can remain in the US or be deported.
The removals, which targeted career public servants who together have served in the agency for several years, raised questions about whether they were permitted under rules dictated by the Office of Personnel Management. And they illustrated the Trump administration’s push to install officials who are aligned with his policy vision.
Those removed Monday are Sheila McNulty, who was serving as chief immigration judge; Mary Cheng, who occupied the EOIR directorship in an acting capacity; Jill Anderson, general counsel at EOIR; and Lauren Alder Reid, acting assistant director at the Office of Administration in EOIR. Combined, they served in the agency for several years.
The executive actions are the culmination of multiple campaign pledges and the resurfacing of policy ideas that didn’t come to fruition during Trump’s first term. Trump aides have signaled that they will be followed within days by a series of immigration enforcement sweeps targeting criminals, though they haven’t ruled out that others could be apprehended, too.
The shutdown of CBP One on Monday closed a key pathway for people looking to come into the US. Homeland Security Department officials have cited the app as helping drive down migrant crossings by providing an orderly way to apply to the United States. With that now gone, and asylum restrictions in place, the border is effectively shut down to asylum seekers — an extraordinary move.