Donald Trump has issued a flurry of executive orders on everything from immigration and climate to pardoning people convicted over the 2021 Capitol riot.

After being sworn in as US president again on Monday, the Republican wasted no time in using his powers to act on a range of policy priorities.

Executive orders carry the weight of law, but can be overturned by subsequent presidents or the courts. Several of those planned by Trump face legal challenges.

Meanwhile, other presidential directives like proclamations are usually not legally binding. Here are some of Trump’s actions so far.

‘National emergency’

Trump has proclaimed that “America’s sovereignty is under attack”, declaring this to be a national emergency that allows him to free up more funding to reinforce the border with Mexico.

The same directive tells officials to relaunch efforts to build a border wall with Mexico that was started under his first presidency. This is not an executive order and it is unclear how such an effort might be funded.

Closing the border

The president has told the military to “seal the borders” – citing the flow of illicit drugs, human smuggling and crime relating to crossings.

Birthright citizenship

Trump has ordered that officials deny the right to citizenship to the children of migrants either in the US illegally or on temporary visas.

But the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution has long been interpreted to enshrine that right, and Trump’s order was immediately challenged in federal court.

Terrorism designation for gangs and cartels

Trump has designated drug cartels and international gangs as foreign terrorist organisations – adding the likes of Salvadoran gang MS-13 to a list that includes the so-called Islamic State.

‘Remain in Mexico’ and no more ‘catch and release’

Trump has re-implemented his “Remain in Mexico” policy from his first term. This returned about 70,000 non-Mexican asylum seekers across the border to await hearings, before being cancelled by President Joe Biden.

The same order demands the end of “catch and release”, a policy that allows migrants to live in US communities while they await their hearings. Trump has previously promised “the largest deportation program in American history”, but this could face legal and logistical challenges.

The order also shut down a major Biden-era immigration pipeline: a sponsorship initiative that allowed up to 30,000 migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to fly to the US. It had been designed to cut illegal crossings.

Death penalty for some immigrant criminals

Trump has ordered that the federal death penalty be reinstated. Executions have not happened in recent years. It would apply to any “capital crime committed by an alien illegally present in this country” and anyone convicted of murdering a law-enforcement officer.

Refugee resettlement

Trump has suspended the US refugee resettlement programme, though details remain unclear.

Pull out of the Paris agreement (again)

Trump has signed off on withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement – the landmark international deal to limit rising global temperatures. He will have to wait a year before it happens. He previously withdrew in 2017, before Biden re-entered.

‘Energy emergency’

Trump has declared a “national energy emergency”, promising to fill up oil reserves. In his inaugural address, he vowed to “drill, baby, drill” for more fossil fuels.

Alaskan fuel

He signed an executive order titled “unleashing Alaska’s extraordinary resource potential”, pledging to “unlock” oil, gas and other natural resources from the state.

End Green New Deal

Trump has halted the Green New Deal, a series of Biden measures that were aimed at boosting green jobs, regulating the fossil fuel industry and limiting pollution.

He has ordered agencies to halt funds appropriated through two laws, the Inflation Reduction Act and another law on infrastructure and jobs. He said the US would end leasing to wind farms and revoke what he calls an electric vehicle “mandate”.

Trump signed an executive order to begin the process of withdrawing the US from the UN’s health body, the World Health Organization (WHO).

This marks the second time Trump has ordered the US be pulled out of the WHO, after Biden re-entered it. He was critical of how the Geneva-based institution handled Covid-19.

Transgender people

Trump has declared that the US will only recognise “two sexes, male and female. These sexes are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality”. It is expected to affect transgender policies relating to government communications, civil rights protections and federal funding, as well as prisons. It will affect official documents like passports and visas.

In the same executive order, Trump ended all government programmes, policies, statements and communications that promote or support “gender ideology”.

DEI

Trump has also halted all “diversity, equity and inclusion” (DEI) programmes within the federal government – labelling them “radical and wasteful”. The administration has also promised further actions that may affect the private sector.

Trump has signed a directive postponing by 75 days the implementation of a law that would ban Chinese-owned app TikTok in the US. The platform had briefly been shut the day before the inauguration, to comply with the law – which demands that a new American owner be found.

Trump formerly backed a TikTok ban, but indicated he reversed course after his campaign videos attracted billions of views. Asked what the action does after he signed it, he said it gives him the right to “sell it or close it”.