How do Donald Trump’s executive orders compare to those of all other US presidents? , donald trump news

Donald Trump will be sworn in as the 47th President of America on Monday. On his first day in the White House, he is expected to sign several executive orders as part of his 100-order plan, which he unveiled to Senate Republicans on January 8.

The executive orders will cover a wide range of topics, including border security, immigration, domestic energy production and presidential pardons.

In this explainer, Al Jazeera visualizes 236 years of US presidential executive orders and looks at what Trump is likely to do on his first day in office.

What is an executive order?

An executive order is an official directive issued by the US President to run the federal government. Although it has the force of law, it does not require approval from Congress.

Executive orders apply to federal institutions and agencies, for example, the Department of Homeland Security was put in charge of construction of the US-Mexico border wall through one such directive.

It cannot be used to make new laws and can be overturned if found unconstitutional; Congress could pass laws to eliminate them.

Executive orders are common for a new president’s first day in office and set the direction and priorities for his administration.

Executive orders throughout history

Executive orders have been an essential tool for US presidents to change policies without going through Congress. Over a period of 236 years – from 1789 to 2025 – 46 US presidents issued at least 15,902 executive orders, an average of 67 per year.

The first executive order was passed by the first President, George Washington, in 1789. In the pre-Civil War era (1789–1861), presidents issued very few orders, an average of zero to four per term, reflecting the limited federal role. During the Civil War and Reconstruction era (1861–77), the number of orders increased, with Abraham Lincoln issuing 48 orders during the Civil War and Ulysses S. Grant reaching 217 orders.

Between 1897 and 1929, orders increased rapidly under the leadership of Theodore Roosevelt (1,081 orders) and Woodrow Wilson (1,803) during World War I.

Franklin D. Roosevelt set a record by issuing 3,721 executive orders from 1933 to 1945, primarily to deal with the challenges of the Great Depression and World War II. Many of these orders were central to his New Deal programs for economic recovery and wartime measures for national defense and mobilization.

After World War II, presidents issued fewer orders as Congress and the courts expanded checks on executive power.

Some of the most influential presidential orders include:

• Emancipation Proclamation (1863) – Lincoln’s order abolished slavery and freed the slaves in the Confederate states.
• Executive Order 9066 (1942) – Franklin D. Roosevelt’s order stating that “all persons deemed a threat to national security from the West Coast were forcibly removed to “transfer” centers inland, resulting in the imprisonment of 120,000 Japanese Americans during World War II.
• Executive Order 9981 (1948) – Harry S. Truman’s order demanded an end to discrimination based on race, color, religion, and national origin in the U.S. military.
• Executive Order 10924 (1961) -Introduced by John F. Kennedy, it established the Peace Corps.
• Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (2012) – Introduced by Barack Obama, the DACA program allowed some people who entered the US as children without legal status to receive two years of deferred action from deportation.
• Executive Order 13769 (2017) – Also known as the travel ban, introduced under Trump, it restricted entry into the US by certain foreign nationals. It was labeled by many as the “Muslim ban” and became widely known because countries with mostly Muslim populations were affected by the ban.

Which President issued the most executive orders?

Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32nd President of the United States, issued the most executive orders during his 12-year presidency (1933–45). They issued 3,721 orders, an average of about 308 orders per year.

He was followed by Woodrow Wilson (1,803 orders), Calvin Coolidge (1,203), Theodore Roosevelt (1,081) and Harry S. Truman (907).

Recent presidents, including Obama (276 orders), Trump (220 orders during his first term from 2017-21) and Joe Biden (160 orders), had much lower averages.

Trump’s upcoming executive orders

President Trump is expected to sign several executive orders in his first few days in office.

His proposed list of more than 100 executive orders includes starting mass deportations of immigrants, rolling back many of Biden’s energy policies and arresting those arrested for their involvement in the January 6, 2021, US Capitol riot, according to the Associated Press news agency. Including forgiving those who are gone.

mass deportation of migrants

Trump is expected to reinstate several US-Mexico border measures from his first term and a controversial travel ban on Muslim-majority countries. Trump’s top “border czar” Tom Homan said the incoming Republican administration would launch a sweeping campaign to detain and deport undocumented immigrants starting on the first day of Trump’s second term.

domestic energy production

Trump aims to reverse several climate policies introduced by Biden, including lifting restrictions on offshore gas and oil drilling, eliminating his electric vehicle mandate and stopping restrictions on natural gas exports.

presidential pardon

As president, Trump has the power to pardon anyone convicted in federal court. He has labeled those arrested in the Capitol riot case “political prisoners” and “hostages,” and has promised to quickly issue pardons upon taking office. More than 1,500 people were federally charged with crimes ranging from trespassing to assaulting law enforcement officers.

“I’m willing to pardon many of them,” Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social. “I can’t say about every single one, because some of them probably got out of control.”