USA turned upside down

USA freezes almost all foreign aid

This signature turns the political landscape in the USA completely upside down.

(Bild: AFP/ROBERTO SCHMIDT)

Since US President Donald Trump took office, there have been reports of initial measures. After a wave of decrees and numerous pardons, his government is now also taking action on foreign policy. The Gulf of Mexico has also been renamed without further ado. An overview.

What was reported in advance is now proving to be true: Donald Trump is much better prepared this time. Instead of chaos, his government impresses with speed. Just a few days after Trump's inauguration, his government claims to have already nailed its colours to the mast on dozens of issues. First and foremost on the subject of migration: "538 criminal illegal migrants" have been arrested and "hundreds" of others have been deported by army aircraft, Trump's spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt announced on Friday.

"Murderers and bad people"
"These are murderers. These are people who are as bad as you can get (...). We'll get them out first," said the new president himself about the first deportation flights of his term of office.

Immediately after the Republican took office, the new US government canceled previously agreed appointments for migrants with the CBP. The functions of the CBP One app for making future appointments were also discontinued with immediate effect. Thousands of migrants were already waiting for their appointment at the border in southern and central Mexico at the time.

Trump wants to make it easier for immigration authorities to deport migrants who were temporarily allowed into the country during Joe Biden's previous administration. US media reported unanimously on a memorandum to this effect from the current Secretary of Homeland Security Benjamine Huffman. It is estimated that more than one million people are affected.

Environmental lawsuits halted
According to insiders, the new US government has also halted all of its environmental lawsuits. Four Justice Department officials responsible for environmental issues have already been transferred, according to people familiar with the matter.

Trump describes climate change as a "hoax", wants to dismantle regulations and announced the withdrawal of the USA from the Paris Climate Agreement on his first day in office.

Officials are up in arms
There is also a lot of internal shuffling. As is well known, the new government is restructuring the federal administration, which has a total of 2.2 million employees. According to a late-night media report, Trump's administration has fired at least twelve inspectors general of major federal agencies.

The inspectors general were notified by email by the White House personnel director. They were dismissed with immediate effect. This was reported by the Washington Post, citing people familiar with the situation.

Inspectors general monitor federal agencies to uncover fraud, waste or abuse. The overnight purge affected the US Department of Defense, the State Department, the Department of Transportation, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Department of the Interior and the Department of Energy, according to the report.

Federal agencies have also been ordered to close all diversity and inclusion offices and agencies within 60 days, to the extent permitted by law. This is set out in a memorandum published by the Human Resources Department on Friday.

On Wednesday, the government had already placed the "DEI" officers at US federal agencies on paid leave before their positions are to be abolished. "DEI" stands for "Diversity, Equity and Inclusion".

The fight against abortion
The clocks are also being turned back with regard to women's rights. Trump has reintroduced the so-called "Mexico City Policy". Critics describe the policy as a "gag rule", as it is intended to silence people who campaign for the right to abortion. The so-called "Mexico City Policy" was introduced in 1984 by former Republican President Ronald Reagan.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Rubio announced that the USA would renew its membership of the "Geneva Consensus Declaration". According to critics, the international agreement aims to restrict access to abortion for millions of women and girls around the world. The Geneva Consensus Declaration (GCD) was launched in 2020 by the USA, Brazil, Uganda, Egypt, Hungary and Indonesia.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio

(Bild: APA/Associated Press)

Trump pardons more extremists
On Friday, the US President also pardoned a number of anti-abortion activists who had been prosecuted for related offenses. There were 23 people involved, the Republican explained at the signing ceremony in the White House. According to US media reports, these include several activists who were convicted of blockading an abortion clinic in the capital Washington in 2020. In the US, it is expressly forbidden to deny women access to clinics or threaten them in the process.

Foreign aid frozen
On Friday evening, things got serious: Neo-Secretary of State Rubio ordered almost all US foreign aid to be frozen - according to an internal letter. The only exceptions are Israel and Egypt.

Gulf of Mexico is now the Gulf of America
And: Trump has officially renamed the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America and Mount Denali in Alaska Mount McKinley. "At the direction of the President, the Gulf of Mexico will now officially be known as the Gulf of America, and the highest mountain in North America will once again bear the name Mount McKinley," the Department of the Interior announced.

Trump is thus also fulfilling a campaign promise. For language use in the USA, a renaming is possible without the consent of the neighboring states. However, other states, the United Nations and other international organizations do not have to adhere to Trump's initiative.