ABC News(WASHINGTON) — It’s been a busy first full week for President Donald Trump. The 45th president has signed a flurry of executive actions — four executive orders and eight presidential memorandums in total. This does not count the executive order, memorandum and proclamation Trump signed on his Inauguration Day.
In case you missed it, here’s a summary of what presidential actions Trump has signed:
MONDAY
Starting off the week, Trump signed three presidential memorandums, the most notable of which directed the United States’ withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations.
Another presidential memo Trump issued Monday established a hiring freeze for federal workers, except for the military.
Trump also reinstated the Mexico City Policy, a policy that prohibits federal funding to nongovernment organizations that promote or perform abortions. Since the policy was announced in 1984 by President Ronald Reagan, it has been revoked by every Democratic president only to be reinstated by their Republican successor.
TUESDAY
President Trump signed an executive order and four presidential memorandums on Tuesday focused mostly on energy, infrastructure and pending pipeline projects.
Tuesday’s executive order pushes for expedited environmental reviews and approvals for infrastructure projects. “It is the policy of the executive branch to streamline and expedite, in a manner consistent with law, environmental reviews and approvals for all infrastructure projects, especially projects that are a high priority for the Nation,” the order reads.
Two of Tuesday’s memos aim at advancing the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines.
In the daily press briefing, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said the third memo signed by Trump Tuesday instructs the commerce secretary to “submit a report recommending how best to streamline manufacturing permitting” and “to reach out to manufacturers and the public to identify regulations that are hurting them from moving forward.”
And Tuesday’s fourth memo orders the commerce secretary to lead a study looking into building the Keystone XL, Dakota Access and future pipelines with steel, pipes and accessories made in the U.S.
WEDNESDAY
Trump signed two executive orders related to immigration and border security during a visit to Department of Homeland Security headquarters on Wednesday.
“Border Security and Immigration Enforcement Improvements” — Trump’s first of the two executive orders that day — sets in the motion the wall he promised he would build on the U.S-Mexico border. This order also brings an end to the “catch and release” policy, which temporarily releases some illegal immigrants due to limited detention space.
“Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States” calls for the removal of illegal immigrants who’ve been convicted of a criminal offense, charged with a criminal offense (where the charge hasn’t been resolved), committed acts that “constitute a chargeable criminal offense” or “in the judgment of an immigration officer, otherwise pose a risk to public safety or national security.” It also orders that federal grant money be stripped from “sanctuary cities,” cities willing to defy federal immigration laws so as to protect illegal immigrants.
THURSDAY
President Trump did not issue any presidential directives on Thursday.
FRIDAY
President Trump signed a presidential memorandum for the defense secretary and the Office of Management and Budget director to conduct several reviews aimed at rebuilding U.S. Armed Forces.
And the last executive order of the week that Trump signed was his “extreme vetting” directive.
The executive order, titled “Protecting the Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into the United States,” suspends the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) for 120 days and immigration from countries with ties to terror, including Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Somalia, Iraq, Iran and Libya, for a period of 90 days.
“I hereby proclaim that the entry of nationals of Syria as refugees is detrimental to the interests of the United States and thus suspend any such entry until such time as I have determined that sufficient changes have been made to the USRAP to ensure that admission of Syrian refugees is consistent with the national interest,” the executive order states.
It also halts the issuing of visas and other immigration benefits to people from countries of “particular concern” and caps the entry of refugees in 2017 at 50,000.
“Upon the resumption of USRAP admissions,” priority will be given to refugees fleeing from religious-based persecution, “provided that the religion of the individual is a minority religion in the individual’s country of nationality.”
Copyright © 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.