Trump was sworn into office on Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, and in that time, he has signed 210 executive orders, many of which have greatly impacted Americans across the country. We now have ICE agents deployed on the street, signs of political corruption, and an increase in the executive branch’s power.
This leads us to our first topic USA’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which was founded in 2003. ICE agents’ role is to capture and deport illegal immigrants in the U.S. with Due Process. However, in the past few months, ICE has been deporting both legal and illegal immigrants without Due Process. There have been several cases of legal immigrants and even citizens being detained and deported from the U.S. As stated in an article by the ‘American Immigration Council’, the Fourth Amendment prevents unreasonable search and seizure. Nonetheless, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have shown unnecessary secrecy and deceitfulness when seizing immigrants off the street.
Additionally, the Supreme Court has granted a request from the Trump administration to bar the current order, which prevents “roaming patrols” from questioning people based on how they look, the language they speak, their job, or even where they are located.
The term “Political Corruption” refers to the abuse of public office for private gain. It is often seen in deals made between wealthy or influential groups and government officials to make changes in their favor in exchange for money. This has been seen many times throughout U.S. history, which is why several orders have been put in place to prevent it. According to Citizensforethics.org, in Trump’s presidency, he has fired the heads of several of these teams or simply had them disbanded. On January 24th, Trump fired 17 inspectors general at agencies throughout the government whose job is to search for potential fraud, waste, and abuse. Additionally, he has disbanded several transparency acts such as the Corporate Transparency Act, which exempts millions of companies from reporting their true owners to the government. According to NPR, on May 11, Trump announced that the Department of Defense accepted a $400 million jet from Qatar, with his reasoning being it would be “stupid” to turn down.
The actions taken during Trump’s current presidency raise serious questions about the strength of America’s democratic values. We’ve seen an increase in executive power, weakening of due process, and several orders put in place to lower government transparency. These are all signs that our checks and balances system is being challenged. If these patterns continue. We could see our government drift toward a more autocratic government. For these reasons, it’s important for people to stay aware of what’s going on and protect our democratic principles.
America was founded on the ideas that everyone deserves fairness, freedom, and a voice in the American government. When leaders, like Trump, gain too much power or ignore the laws meant to protect people’s rights, those values put us, the people, in danger. Citizens need to pay close attention to what the government is doing and speak out when something might be wrong. By staying informed and standing up for the justice everyone deserves, we can help make sure that our Democracy remains strong. Every person has a role in protecting the rights and freedoms that make the United States a fair and free country for all.
