Editor’s note: This article has been updated to reflect that the Office of Management and Budget has withdrawn its ordered grant funding freeze in a notice to agencies and departments.
Throughout the election season, pundits and prognosticators attempt to predict presidential candidates’ stances and then the president-elect’s potential actions in office. Their best guesses often miss the mark and are rarely held accountable for their missed predictions. Meanwhile, in the real world, public safety agencies and the communities we serve experience both the consequences of policy decisions and navigate the uncertainty between an executive order and its implementation.
President Trump, unlike most candidates, often told us what he had planned in plain language. Trump called January 6, 2021 “a day of love” and described the protestors as peaceful and hostages. He promised to free them throughout his campaign. Once in office, he wasted little time in issuing more than 1,500 pardons, including 169 people who pled guilty to violently assaulting and attacking police officers.
At least two of those newly released by Trump have already had contact with law enforcement. Matthew Tuttle was killed in an altercation with police after a traffic stop and resisting arrest on January 26. Daniel Ball was re-arrested on a federal gun charge a few days after receiving his pardon from Trump.
The Fraternal Order of Police and the International Association of Chiefs of Police have jointly condemned the January 6 pardons and commutations issued by President Donald Trump and former President Joe Biden granting clemency to Leonard Peltier, who was convicted in the 1975 shooting of two FBI agents. “Crimes against law enforcement are not just attacks on individuals or public safety — they are attacks on society and undermine the rule of law,” the statement reads.
Unlike January 6, not all of Trump’s policy changes were explained in the campaign. But now, not even two weeks into Trump’s second term, his public safety agenda is beginning to take shape. In addition to the January 6 pardons, here are some of the other executive orders and directives that are most likely to impact public safety.
Temporarily pausing all federal grants, loans
On January 27 the Office of Management and Budget gave direction to Executive branch departments and agencies to temporarily halt the disbursement of grants and loans by federal agencies. More than 2,600 programs were named for review by the Office of Management and Budget, including Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG), Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER). and the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program. A day later a federal judge blocked the order for one week.
On January 29, two days after issuing the spending freeze, the Trump administration rescinded the order freezing federal grants.
Getting rid of FEMA
While visiting North Carolina to survey the recovery from Hurricane Helene, the president floated the idea of “getting rid of FEMA.” Calling the agency “slow” and a “disappointment.”
It seems likely from Trump’s comments that he was referring to FEMA’s disaster response coordination efforts and not more broadly ending FEMA’s training programs, like the National Fire Academy, the Center for Domestic Preparedness and many other FEMA first responder training and outreach programs.
A Trump Executive Order creates a FEMA Review Council that is to meet within 90 days and issue a report within 180 days. The council is to assess FEMA’s performance during the previous administration, compare FEMA responses to other state, local and private responses, and debate the “role and operation of FEMA in our Federal system.”
Withdrawing from the WHO
On his first day back in the Oval Office, Trump began the year-long process to withdraw the U.S. from the World Health Organization, a global public health agency, that among other things, does pandemic disease research, monitoring and response. The U.S. is one of the largest contributors to WHO, with annual contributions from $160 million to $815 million per year. The order halts U.S. funding and reassigns federal personnel and contractors who were working with the WHO.
Ending Biden’s police reforms
Trump also issued executive orders to revoke police reform executive orders issued by President Biden. Those orders targeted police accountability and transparency through the use of body-worn cameras and the launching of the National Law Enforcement Accountability Database. The cost and efficacy of police reform through consent decrees stemming from presidential executive orders are questioned by communities, law enforcement agencies and law enforcement professional associations.
Declaring a National Emergency
Securing the southern border, perhaps Trump’s most frequent campaign promise, through the declaration of a National Emergency might not be getting enough attention in the flurry of executive orders issues since taking office. The National Emergency gives the Secretary of Defense the discretion to order units of the Armed Forces and the National Guard to support the activities of the Department of Homeland Security to gain operational control of the southern border. The Secretary of Defense is also to support civilian law enforcement operations through the “provision of appropriate detention space, transportation (including aircraft), and other logistics services.”
Another executive order designates cartels and other organizations as foreign terrorist organizations. Communities everywhere are plagued by the scourge of drug and human trafficking and associated violent crime. The order directs the Secretary of State, Secretary of Treasury, Attorney General, Secretary of Homeland Security and the Director of National Intelligence to recommend cartels for designation as foreign terrorist organizations. It also directs operational preparations to expedite the removal of those designated under this order.
Conclusion
All presidents are measured by their accomplishments within their first 100 days. Executive Orders, which don’t require congressional approval, are a quick way for the new administration to communicate its priorities, follow through on campaign promises and assess public support.
Our co-equal branches of government, legislative and judicial, have the power to support the president’s governing through fiat by inaction, the power to codify it through legislation or judicial decision, or the power to challenge the supremacy of the executive branch through court decisions or counterweighting legislation. It is impossible to fully know what is ahead for public safety in the months and years ahead, but it sure looks like once again the transition in power is leading to a period of uncertainty for public safety and the communities they protect.
