President Donald Trump swore his presidential oath Monday at the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., where he announced his plans to sign 41 executive orders the same day during his inaugural speech.
Trump’s second inaugural address promised to tackle political issues like immigration, inflation, domestic manufacturing, tariffs and free speech all within his first week. He also spoke of plans to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, seize the Panama Canal and visit the planet Mars.
“Today, I will sign a series of historic executive orders,” Trump said. “With these actions, we will begin the complete restoration of America and the revolution of common sense.”
Political and diplomatic audience members could be heard cheering after Trump talked about deportation without exception and demanded extreme border control, but what does that future look like for college students?
Many of Trump’s supporters value his immigration policy. Eighty-two percent of Trump supporters said immigration was very important to their vote, making it the second most important issue to the economy, at 93%, according to Pew Research.
“We will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came,” Trump said. “We will reinstate my Remain-in-Mexico policy.”
About 400,000 undocumented students are enrolled in some form of higher education and have no legal protections, as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) has been unavailable since 2021, according to Teen Vogue. Trump’s presidency could cause serious issues for students.
The Biden Administration enforced schools as Department-of-Homeland-Security-protected areas, but in the new administration, this could change. There are concerns for students reporting for financial aid purposes.
“[The] FAFSA is used by millions of students each year to get help paying for college. Though the data that students and parents provide on the form is technically confidential… some families are worried the Trump administration will seek it out for other purposes, including immigration enforcement,” according to USA Today.
Trump said massive amounts of overspending and increased energy prices created the current inflation crisis and that he would declare a national energy emergency later that day. Trump also publicized his plans to use natural resources to soothe the nation’s financial struggles.
“We will drill, baby, drill,” Trump said. “America will be a manufacturing nation once again.”
Trump also announced the launch of his administration’s External Revenue Service, which was tasked with collecting “all tariffs, duties and revenues.” He created the agency to manage the massive influx of money expected from other countries.
“Instead of taxing our citizens to enrich other countries, we will tariff and tax foreign countries to enrich our citizens,” Trump said.
Trump received positive feedback after reinstating U.S. use of TikTok, suspending the Supreme Court’s ruling. TikTok’s message when opening the app thanked President Trump on Sunday.
“I will also sign an executive order to immediately stop all government censorship and bring back free speech to America.”
Follow Sidelines on Facebook at Facebook.com/MTSUSidelines, on X @mtsusidelines and Instagram @mtsusidelines. Sign up for our weekly newsletter here.
