If all of President Donald Trump’s Day 1 executive orders on immigration and deportation go through, he will have succeeded in a radical overhaul of US law. That, however, is a mighty “if.”

His agenda Monday was a mix of new and familiar policies: In the latter category, Trump revived a number of measures from his first administration, including forcing asylum seekers to wait in Mexico for decisions in the US immigration cases, implementing “extreme vetting” of immigrants coming into the US, and cracking down on “sanctuary cities” and states that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration agents.

He also began to implement several 2024 campaign promises, including establishing a framework through which he intends to carry out mass deportations, mobilizing the military to the border, and paring back Biden-era programs that gave temporary protections to hundreds of thousands of immigrants. And he delivered on a long-standing promise to sign an executive order potentially ending birthright citizenship — in the unlikely event it stands up to a court challenge.

Some of these executive orders, such as the so-called Remain in Mexico policy, have already been tested in the courts during Trump’s first administration or are clearly within his powers as president. That category includes rescinding his predecessor’s executive orders or agency policy guidance on immigration, such as a Biden directive prioritizing violent criminals and recent arrivals for immigration enforcement. Other Trump actions appear patently illegal; the ACLU and 18 state attorneys general have already challenged his order ending birthright citizenship, which legal experts have long argued is blatantly unconstitutional.

The survival of other new policies, particularly around deportations, may depend on how they are implemented in practice. As new executive orders go into effect, legal advocates will be watching for the ways in which those policies could violate the constitutional rights of immigrants and existing federal immigration and national security laws.

According to Doris Meissner, director of the Migration Policy Institute’s immigration policy work, however, “there is more sophistication, I think it’s fair to say, in the way that they [Trump administration officials] are going about it,” compared to the hasty executive orders of Trump’s first term.

In short, we’re........

© Vox