In his first week in office, President Trump issued more than a dozen executive actions to advance his mass detention and deportation agenda. These actions were designed to sow fear in our communities and cause chaos and dysfunction in our immigration system. Rather than advance needed reforms to modernize our outdated immigration system, these actions will waste billions of dollars, create greater inefficiencies in immigration courts, and increase suffering and injustice for immigrants and their families, ultimately undermining democracy.

Due process—the notion that everyone has the right to fair treatment in our legal system to prevent the arbitrary deprivation of life, liberty, or property—is a foundational principle of our government, enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. Collectively, Trump’s week one executive actions upend due process by reducing the likelihood that immigrants can access legal representation, stripping people of any chance at a fair outcome in the immigration court system, and ensuring deportation for many people who could have the legal right to remain in the country.

Here’s how Trump’s week one executive orders specifically dismantle due process and exacerbate existing barriers that prevent people from accessing representation to defend their rights:

Trump’s actions vastly expand the use of immigration detention.

Trump’s major executive order on immigration enforcement within the United States interior directs the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to vastly expand the nation’s detention infrastructure and begin detaining everyone arrested by DHS pending their removal (deportation). Under DHS direction, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will now be emboldened to conduct arrests in places like schools, churches, hospitals, and courthouses.

Another executive order focused on the border significantly curtails the use of tools that gave DHS discretion to allow people to navigate their case in their community, such as parole or ICE bond. While some people will still be able to pursue release from detention on bond from the court, that ability will be further limited by the recently passed Laken Riley Act, which significantly expands the number of people subjected to no-bond mandatory detention. The government’s own data shows that immigration detention neither deters migration nor is it necessary to ensure court appearances—two claims frequently used to justify it.

Trump's actions fast-track deportations by using tools that bypass immigration judges.

The executive order on interior enforcement and a following Federal Register notice from DHS expand the application of expedited removal—a process that allows DHS to detain and deport someone on an accelerated timeline without a hearing before an immigration judge—to the maximum extent permitted under law. The government may now rapidly deport someone accused of entering the United States without permission if that person cannot affirmatively demonstrate that they have been continuously present in the United States for two years, which is challenging to prove given how quickly these removals can happen.

A January 23 DHS memo also guides ICE officials to use expedited removal for people were lawfully paroled into the country using the Biden administration’s now-defunct CBP One app (more on this below) and the Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela program. The executive order on interior enforcement also seeks to revive the use of stipulated removal— a form of summary removal in which immigrants, often coerced, waive their right to a court hearing.

These actions significantly reduce access to legal representation.

Expanding the use of detention and rapid deportations will also drastically reduce the likelihood that people will be able to secure legal representation to help them navigate their case. An estimated 70 percent of people held in immigration detention on deportation cases opened in the past three years are unrepresented in their proceedings*. When people are subject to expedited removal, they are unlikely to have time, opportunity, or resources to find an attorney.  This massively upends due process: our immigration legal system is unbelievably complex, and people without representation are much less likely to access their legal right to stay in the country.

Trump’s actions expand immigration enforcement, which will exacerbate the existing court backlog.

While Trump seeks to deport as many people as possible without a court hearing, those who make it to court will be faced with a court system that is already overwhelmed by the more than 3.7 million cases on its docket, the majority of which (2.5 million) do not have legal representation. Drastically increasing the number of people in that system through increased enforcement and anticipated changes to court priorities and procedures will exacerbate the backlog, making it even harder for people to find legal representation and for cases to be resolved fairly.

Trump’s actions suspend critical programs that help people navigate a complex legal system.

The executive order on interior enforcement further directs the Department of Justice (DOJ) and DHS to immediately review and audit all federal contracts and grants to nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) providing services to immigrants who are alleged to be removable. On January 22, the DOJ ordered legal service providers to cease work on critical programs including the Legal Orientation Program, the Immigration Court Helpdesk, the Family Group Legal Orientation Program, and the Counsel for Children Initiative.

The suspension of these bipartisan-supported, longstanding, and successful programs leaves hundreds of thousands of immigrants—including children and families—without access to basic legal information and representation necessary to navigate complex court processes. For example, studies have consistently shown that legal orientations lead to cases moving more quickly—reducing detention costs—and help ensure that people attend their court hearings. 

Trump fired longtime officials at the Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR) who have maintained the office’s respect for due process.

Outside the executive orders, Trump’s DOJ fired multiple high-level officials within the EOIR who have long-standing careers and records of facilitating access to counsel and due process within the immigration court system. This office is responsible for overseeing the nation’s immigration courts. This move signals a broader effort to reshape the immigration court system into a politically motivated enforcement arm of Trump’s DOJ rather than a neutral arbiter of who has a legal right to stay in the country. This will only undermine public trust and jeopardize the integrity and independence of judicial proceedings.

Trump’s actions force asylum seekers to remain in Mexico, effectively eliminating people’s ability to access counsel to help assert their valid right to enter the country.

Finally, the executive order on the border effectively eliminates asylum by shutting down the CBP One app—one of the last available avenues for pursuing asylum claims at ports of entry after Biden’s 2024 executive actions on the border. A January 21 DHS announcement also revives the Migrant Protection Protocols (also known as “Remain in Mexico”) that force people seeking asylum at the southern border to wait in Mexico while U.S. immigration courts process their claims. This policy will once again trap people in dangerous camps along the border where they face severe violence and abuse, with no ability to access legal information or representation or to fairly present their asylum claim in court.

*Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), “EOIR Case Data (December 2024),” database (Falls Church, VA: EOIR, 2025), https://www.justice.gov/eoir/foia-library-0.