The second administration of President Donald Trump is nearing its 40-day anniversary, and the White House has wasted no time passing a sizable 76 executive orders that revise national policies on immigration, the economy and foreign affairs.

Trump himself said during his inaugural remarks that the executive orders he planned to pass would facilitate a “complete restoration of America.” However, some University students question if they fit into the new president’s vision of a new and improved America. 

“It’s just more stuff to placate (Trump’s) base,” said Ibrahim Zeeshan, sophomore in LAS and member of Illini Democrats, on the inaugural remarks. “You know, American greatness, destiny, things of that nature, when the actions themselves that he’s doing are really contrary to that.”

Trump won his reelection bid against former Vice President Kamala Harris on Nov. 5, 2024, with 312 electoral votes. Throughout his first term from 2017-2021, he orchestrated some of the biggest corporate tax cuts in American history, a $12.5 billion defense spending increase and became the first commander in chief to be impeached twice. 

Jack LaMorte, senior in LAS and president of the University’s branch of College Republicans, said Trump was a strong leader on the international stage throughout his first term, specifically citing his relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and their meeting in 2018.

“(Trump) deregulated a lot of stuff, which I think allowed us to see business boom a lot, which I think was really good,” LaMorte said. “I also liked his foreign policy — I think he was strong.”

Looking to the present day, Trump’s major policy pushes for the past 30 days have centered around immigration. More than 20 of his orders have focused on immigration reform, including fortifying the Southern border with a deployment of 1,500 active troops and ordering mass deportations of illegal migrants. 

Another one of Trump’s key promises on the issue of immigration is the use of a U.S. military base in Guantánamo Bay in Cuba to hold “the worst criminal illegal aliens threatening the American people.”

Cate Stocki, junior in LAS, says she has a friend who served in Guantánamo Bay and worries about the ability of the facility to hold an alleged 30,000 migrants. NPR reported Tuesday that Venezuelan men detained at the camp faced abusive conditions from U.S. guards.

“I don’t see how it could ever be possible to not only have (Guantánamo Bay) but have it in a way to not have hundreds of human rights violations,” Stocki said.

Zeeshan specifically commented on birthright citizenship, which is automatic citizenship for anyone born within U.S. territories – a right revoked by Trump on Jan. 20. However, that bid was temporarily blocked by a federal judge who cited a violation of the 14th Amendment.

“I think one of the first (executive orders) (Trump’s) done is executive order to gut birthright citizenship, which is probably the most explicit example of him violating the Constitution because there’s the 14th amendment, which guarantees birthright citizenship,” Zeeshan said.

LaMorte added that some boosted border security is a practical move.

“With illegal immigration, I think it’s good that we are rebuilding the (Southern) border,” LaMorte said. “I don’t know about deporting everybody, but I also don’t think that (Trump’s) going to do that.”

At the University, students saw the impacts of the new White House firsthand when Trump temporarily froze federal funding and grants to organizations like the National Institute of Health and the National Science Foundation. 

This pause impacted research branches at the University, like the Soybean Innovation Lab, which was forced to halt research in-state and internationally and fire staff when Trump froze the United States Agency for International Development’s funding.

Stocki, an atmospheric sciences student, along with Louisa Baluga, sophomore in LAS, are concerned about how the Trump administration will affect research and post-graduate job markets.

“I saw something about (Trump) talking about taking apart the Department of Education, which concerns me because that’s kind of the whole sphere that I’m planning to enter when I graduate college,” Baluga said. “So when I heard that, I was really concerned about what that meant.”

Zeeshan emphasized the importance of legal checks and balances when trying to understand the slew of newly released federal policies. A federal judge blocked Trump’s sweeping measure on federal funding last Tuesday, and multiple organizations are currently fighting legal battles against the Trump administration for executive measures.

“I thought to myself, 99% of this whole thing is unconstitutional,” Zeeshan said. “(Trump) might try to do them, but the courts will strike him down, and what I predicted back in November, a few days after the election, is now becoming a reality.”

But LaMorte said that these funding cuts aren’t all bad. In fact, he believes that there is an overspending in public education. 

“I think that if we can work a way out to where the federal government’s not funding as much, I think that could be a good thing,” LaMorte said.

Zeeshan and LaMorte both said the new administration has been a topic of conversation in their social circles — for better or for worse.  

“Republicans my age are very happy with how it’s been going, which makes sense, and then my liberal friends are obviously not,” LaMorte said. “They think that (Trump’s) a dictator and all this stuff, which I think it’s somewhere in between.”

Baluga added that she also worries that the White House has taken down thousands of government web pages, including information on Jan. 6, 2021.

“The amount of news that we’re missing, the amount that’s filtered out,” Baluga said. “Even the White House website is not a place, is not a source that can be trusted anymore as a center for information because of how it’s been dismantled.”

Despite his excitement surrounding the $4.5 trillion in promised tax cuts, LaMorte said he’s learned to filter out some of Trump’s remarks. More specifically, those insinuating that the U.S. would take ownership of the Gaza Strip.

“Until that happens, you kind of have to tune out what he says,” LaMorte said.

Zeeshan is less optimistic about the trajectory of the next four years. However, he likens the job of the presidency to being captain of a plane. Even though he’s been critical of Trump’s policies, he wants him to succeed for the sake of the nation’s democracy.

“The next four years, I think, summed up best in this quote, which is ‘Hope for the best, prepare for the worst,’” Zeeshan said. “That’s going to be my mantra for the next four years, as hopefully it should be for most people.”

[email protected]