SOURCE :- THE AGE NEWS
Washington: Donald Trump’s sweeping executive orders have been met with lawsuits across multiple states, left migrants in limbo at the United States-Mexico border and prompted calls by religious leaders to show mercy on people fearful of what may come.
A day after his return to the White House, uncertainty and trepidation swept parts of America as the newly inaugurated president embarked on one of the boldest demonstrations of presidential power in years.
In particular, his sweeping pardon of almost all convicted January 6 rioters sparked outrage from lawmakers, police and others, and made some Republicans wince as they watched high-profile initiators of the violent protest walk free from jail.
President Donald Trump speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on his second day in the job.Credit: AP
“I think we’re gonna do things that people would be shocked at,” Trump said as he announced a $US500 billion ($800 billion) artificial intelligence project to build “colossal” data centres and energy plants, flanked by three technology billionaires including OpenAI boss Sam Altman.
Many of Trump’s most controversial moves are likely to be challenged in court, and the pushback began with a lawsuit filed by 18 Democratic-run states against what they called the president’s “flagrantly unlawful” bid to end automatic citizenship for children born in the US to undocumented migrants.
The states argue the order breaches a right guaranteed in the 14th Amendment which grants citizenship to those born in the US, and would cause “immediate and irreparable harm” if it is allowed to stand, with children born after February 19 this year being rendered stateless and able to be deported.
People hold signs during a rally against President Donald Trump’s immigration policies as deportations began.Credit: AP
Separately, immigration advocates also sued the Trump administration over the order. “We will not let this attack on newborns and future generations of Americans go unchallenged,” said Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union. “The Trump administration’s overreach is so egregious that we are confident we will ultimately prevail.”
The citizenship order came alongside what White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called a “shock and awe” approach from the new administration on the US southern border. It included expanded powers for immigration police to swiftly deport certain undocumented migrants from anywhere in the US.
Immigration agents will also be allowed to enter schools, hospitals and churches to make arrests, ending a Joe Biden-era rule that deemed such “sensitive” areas out-of-reach. “Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest,” the Department of Homeland Security said.
Trump came to power promising the largest mass deportation program in US history, and pre-election leaks indicated the crackdown would begin in the “sanctuary city” of Chicago, but local media reported no action on that front yet.
Like other Democratic mayors facing the prospect of a federal immigration crackdown, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has said he would resist the policy and protect the rights of newly arrived and undocumented migrants.
Trump also wasted no time purging the federal bureaucracy of people perceived to be loyal to Democrats or part of so-called “woke” policies. He began his purge by sacking 1000 appointees from former president Biden’s administration overnight, starting with celebrity chef Jose Andres who was on the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition (the Spanish-American humanitarian said he resigned last week) and General Mark Milley (who had already retired).
The Office of Personnel Management then directed that all federal employees working on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs be put on immediate paid leave, with their agencies to develop plans to lay them off. DEI-focused webpages must also be removed.
While government employees cleared out their desks, hundreds convicted of crimes related to the January 6, 2021, riots at the US Capitol cleared out their jail cells after being pardoned by the president on the first day of his second term.
They received a hero’s welcome from Trump fans waiting outside prisons, and at Washington central jail. Republican congresswoman Lauren Boebert said she would invite the freed “hostages” for a guided tour of the Capitol. “This day [January 6] was not what the left said,” she said. “They should never have been locked up.”
Other Republicans were less enthusiastic, either dodging questions on the topic or deflecting by pointing to Biden’s pre-emptive pardons for his own family.
Senator Susan Collins of Maine said she did not support pardons for people who had committed violent crimes, and Senator Kevin Cramer of North Dakota said: “I’m uncomfortable with all of it. That said, I’m willing to look forward instead of backwards.”
Two high-profile far-right leaders were released; the former leader of the Proud Boys, Enrique Tarrio, and the founder of the Oath Keepers, Stewart Rhodes. They were serving 22- and 18-year sentences respectively for orchestrating plots to stop the peaceful transfer of power when Trump lost in 2020.
Trump said the men’s sentences were “ridiculous and excessive”. Peppered with questions about his decision to free violent offenders – including a man who stun-gunned a police officer – the president became agitated and said all those released had served enough time. “Murderers don’t even go to jail in this country,” he said.
Long-standing Democrat and former speaker Nancy Pelosi, whose office was trashed on the day of the riots and whose husband was attacked by a pro-Trump conspiracy theorist in 2022, said the pardons were “an outrageous insult to our justice system” and the heroes who had tried to protect the Capitol.
Meanwhile, Secretary of State Marco Rubio headed straight from his swearing-in to a meeting of his Quad counterparts – Australia, India and Japan – including Penny Wong, who was the first Australian foreign minister to be invited to a presidential inauguration.
Rubio then took bilateral meetings with each of the three. Wong said the meetings were a signal of “the priority that the Trump administration places on the Indo-Pacific, and this is a good thing for Australia’s interests”.
In the face of Trump’s plans to slap tariffs on Mexico and Canada, Wong has made the case that the US runs a trade surplus with Australia, and said she left the Rubio meeting feeling he recognised the relationship’s economic benefit to the US.
“Every new US administration has had a view about trade policy … This is no different,” she said. Wong said the pair did not discuss the tenure of Australia’s ambassador to the US, Kevin Rudd – whose previous criticisms of Trump were brought to the president’s attention last year.
