(The Center Square) – Over the first 100 days in his second term of office, President Donald Trump has signed five pieces of legislation into law, fulfilling some of his deregulation and immigration promises while preventing a government shutdown.

“The four words that best describe this administration so far are ‘promises made, promises kept,’ House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told reporters Tuesday. “We’re just getting started, and that’s one of the reasons we’re so excited.”

Trump signed the first bill to hit his desk, the bipartisan Laken Riley Act, nine days after taking office and declaring an invasion at the southwest border.

Immigration officers can now detain for deportation any migrants residing illegally in the U.S. who are arrested for theft, assaulting law enforcement, or causing serious injury or death to another person. States can also sue federal officials who violate or refuse to enforce immigration law. 

Many Democratic lawmakers opposed the bill because it applies mandatory detention statutes on people who are charged with, and not convicted of, committing crimes. 

Trump’s aggressive approach to immigration and border security have resulted in record low illegal border crossings, down from record-highs under the previous administration. 

In March, the Republican-controlled 119th Congress sent two energy-related resolutions to Trump’s desk. 

One repealed a Biden-era fee on methane emissions before it could take effect. Republicans had said the Waste Emissions Charge, authorized by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, was the equivalent of a natural gas tax.

The second resolution rescinded a rule requiring extra archeological reports from operators managing oil and gas development on the Outer Continental Shelf, a measure meant to protect aquatic environments. 

Trump also signed and played a major role in the passage of the six-month Continuing Resolution, preventing a government shutdown by maintaining current funding levels for the rest of the fiscal year, which ends in October. 

The president repeatedly cajoled and pressured Republican holdouts to support the bill, despite it being the third time Congress punted the deadline to pass the 12 annual appropriations bills that provide money for federal agencies to spend on programs each year.

Another deregulation bill, codified in April, struck down a rule placing stricter tax reporting requirements on cryptocurrency brokers. 

During his first four years in office, Trump signed more than 780 bills into law, while former president Joe Biden signed more than 630 bills into law.

(The Center Square) – Increasing trade policy activity by the United States and other countries has left 8 in 10 Americans with rising concerns on the cost of things they buy, a poll originating out of North Carolina says.

“Much higher” prices are expected by 43% of respondents when asked “How much do you think the new tariffs imposed by the United States will affect the cost of things you buy?” Another 37% said they expect “somewhat higher” prices, according to a segment of the Elon University Poll released Tuesday morning.

Those results are in line with a poll released last week from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. About half expect prices to go up a lot and another 30% say somewhat higher. Most poll results released in the last week indicate some kind of question related to inflation, higher prices and trade policy, and answers reflect growing concern.

Elon University said 1,149 adults age 18 and older were interviewed April 10-17 and matched down to the 1,000 sample. Margin of error is +/- 3.58%. The university funds and operates the poll “as the neutral, nonbiased information resource.”

The demographics split was balanced for those expecting trade policy to cause “much higher” consumer prices. That includes income levels of less than $50,000 (44%), $50,000 to $100,000 (40%) and $100,000 or more (44%); Blacks (55%) and white or non-Hispanics (38%); women (49%) and men (37%); age 45 and up (44%) and ages 18-44 (42%); and those with a four-year degree (45%) and those without (42%).

Party allegiance was different for the “much higher” answer. Democrats (75%) were more represented than independents (42%) or Republicans (14%). Of those saying “somewhat higher,” 51% were Republicans, 38% independents and 21% Democrats.

Asked about summer vacation plans due to the economy, 47% anticipate little or no change and 33% plan to spend less and stay closer to home.

(The Center Square) – President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Monday to enhance national security and enforce federal immigration and criminal law in so-called sanctuary jurisdictions and take a range of actions against those obstructing enforcement, including eliminating their federal funding.

Trump’s “Protecting American Communities from Criminal Aliens” executive order directs the departments of Justice and Homeland Security to publish a list of state and local jurisdictions that obstruct federal immigration enforcement and take action against them.

“Federal supremacy with respect to immigration, national security, and foreign policy is axiomatic,” the order states, citing Article II and Article IV, Section 4, of the U.S. Constitution, vesting the federal government with the power to protect national security and “protect each of [the States] against Invasion.”

The invasion argument was first made by 55 Texas counties that declared an invasion citing Article IV, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution, The Center Square exclusively reported.

“The prior administration allowed unchecked millions of aliens to illegally enter the United States,” the order states, creating a public safety and national security crisis, exacerbated by transnational criminal organizations, terrorists and others intent on harming Americans.

Trump’s latest executive order, as many of his previous ones, is likely to be challenged in court.

Citing an invasion at the southern border, which Trump officially declared on his first day in office, his administration is now responding to some state and local officials who “violate, obstruct, and defy” federal immigration enforcement, the order states.

Local jurisdictions who obstruct federal deportation efforts are engaging in “a lawless insurrection against the supremacy of Federal law and the Federal Government’s obligation to defend the territorial sovereignty of the United States,” it states.

In addition to creating “intolerable national security risks,” the order states sanctuary jurisdictions’ “nullification efforts often violate Federal criminal laws, including those prohibiting obstruction of justice, … unlawfully harboring or hiring illegal aliens …, conspiracy against the United States …, and conspiracy to impede Federal law enforcement.”

The order also notes that “assisting aliens in violating Federal immigration law could also violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act,” an argument made by America First Legal, The Center Square reported. In January, AFL launched a resource to help Americans fight sanctuary policies and sent letters to more than 250 elected officials demanding that they comply with federal law or expect to be sued.

“Concealing, harboring, or shielding aliens could also trigger liability under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) statute,” AFL said. “Civil RICO remedies are available to ‘[a]ny person injured in his business or property by reason of a violation’ and shall recover threefold the damages he sustains and the cost of the suit, including a reasonable attorney’s fee.’”

Trump’s order also states that those who assist illegal foreign nationals might be violating federal laws that prohibit discrimination against Americans and might be violating Americans’ civil rights.

In order for the federal government “to restore the enforcement of United States law,” Trump directed the attorney general and Secretary of Homeland Security to publish a list of states and local jurisdictions that obstruct the federal immigration enforcement. Each jurisdiction is to be notified of its alleged violation of federal immigration and criminal law.

Those that remain in defiance will lose all federal funding, the order says. The AG and DHS secretary are directed to work with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to identify, suspend and terminate all federal funds allocated to sanctuary jurisdictions, including grants and contracts. They are also directed to “pursue all necessary legal remedies and enforcement measures to end these violations and bring such jurisdictions into compliance” with U.S. laws.

The order also prevents all federal benefits from being spent on illegal foreign nationals living in sanctuary jurisdictions, including through private entities. It requires federal agencies to create a mechanism “to ensure appropriate eligibility verification is conducted for individuals receiving federal public benefits” under Title 8 of federal immigration law.

It also creates provisions for the AG, DHS secretary and agency heads to “identify and take appropriate action to stop the enforcement of state and local laws, regulations, policies, and practices favoring aliens over any groups of American citizens that are unlawful, preempted by federal law, or otherwise unenforceable.”

This includes state laws that provide in-state higher education tuition “to aliens but not to out-of-State American citizens that may violate” federal law or “that favor aliens in criminal charges or sentencing.”

The order was issued after the Trump administration already warned sanctuary jurisdictions like Massachusetts, whose officials remained steadfast in their policies to protect illegal foreign nationals. They continued to do so after federal authorities arrested alleged terrorists tied to the murder of U.S. troops and hundreds of criminal illegal foreign nationals were charged or convicted of committing violent crimes against Massachusetts residents, The Center Square reported.