Response Center

The Trump administration unilaterally revoked New York City's congestion pricing program that cut traffic and vehicle emissions.

On February 19th, 2025, the Trump administration began the process of revoking New York City's authorization to operate its congestion pricing program, which was designed to reduce traffic, vehicles emissions, and drive times. This program had started on January 5, 2025 and has already shown initial results. Congestion pricing has been successfully used in other major cities across the world, including as a way to encourage alternative transportation methods, such as buses and bikes. The Trump administration's revocation of this program was challenged immediately. At the end of May, a federal court blocked the revocation, after the MTA sued. As the case is decided by the courts, the congestion pricing program will continue.

This order designates English as the official language of the U.S. as part of a push to make the country less welcoming to non-English speakers.

This Executive Order designates English as the official language of the United States and revokes a quarter-century old executive order designed to make public services more accessible to people with limited English. The United States has never before had an official language nor is there a clear legal basis for doing so. This order is consistent with a widespread effort by the Trump administration to to make public services less accessible. While the messaging of the EO is clear in its effort to stigmatize people who do not speak English, it does not direct agencies to take specific actions besides removing prior guidance related to the revoked EO.

This directive forces agencies to fire all employees who have been hired recently (known as probationary employees) regardless of performance or merit.

The acting head of the Office of Personnel Management, the government's HR department, has instructed each agency to arbitrarily fire all employees who have been newly hired or recently started a new role (known as probationary employees). This action unlawfully encroaches on both the power of Congress (which established protections for career civil servants) and agencies themselves to manage their own workforce. It undermines effective government by firing employees without any assessment of merit or performance, endangering Americans by undermining the quality of the services that these employees provide - everything from keeping our food and medicine safe, to securing our borders, to improving our communities.

This Proclamation asserts that the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua has "invaded" the United States and invokes the 1798 "Alien Enemies Act" to deport them.

This Proclamation invokes a 1798 law about war powers and invasion, the Alien Enemies Act, against members of a Venezuelan gang that is not at war with or invading the United States, to claim vast executive power to deport people without due process. The Alien Enemies Act is a wartime authority that can only be invoked against "a foreign nation or government" and that does not allow summary deportations without due process. The Act is the only remaining element of the reviled Alien and Sedition Acts from the John Adams administration and has only been invoked three other times in American history, always during declared wars (the War of 1812, World War I, and World War II). The Trump Administration has applied the Alien Enemies Act to send Venezuelans to El Salvador, where they are currently being detained indefinitely without charge at a maximum-security prison infamous for human rights violations and torture, at U.S. taxpayer expense.

This memo cancels the government's contract to provide legal representation to represent unaccompanied migrant child in immigration court.

The Office of Refugee Resettlement is required to provide legal representation to unaccompanied migrant children in immigration proceedings, and Congress regularly appropriates money to pay for those services. This ensures that young children can't be deported without at least being represented by a lawyer. The Trump Administration canceled its contract with non-profit legal service providers who actually provide those services, however, leaving unaccompanied migrant kids -- including babies and toddlers -- to navigate the immigration court system on their own.

This order instructs DOJ to compile a list of "sanctuary jurisdictions," strip them of funding, and take vague "measures" against them if they do not fall in line.

This Executive Order relies on the unsupported assertion that immigration constitutes an "invasion" to claim claim the authority for DOJ and DHS to identify and punish so-called "sanctuary" jurisdictions. There is no legal definition of a "sanctuary" or "welcoming" city or state; it usually refers to jurisdictions that decline to use their own local law enforcement resources to carry out federal immigration enforcement, which states and localities have the right to do. However, this EO defines "sanctuary" jurisdictions as those that "obstruct the enforcement of Federal immigration laws," and incorrectly claims that this constitutes a "lawless insurrection" against the federal government. The EO instructs DOJ to maintain the list of sanctuary jurisdictions, and inform all jurisdictions on the list of their designations. It unlawfully instructs executive branch agencies to strip designated jurisdictions of federal funding, and potentially to target them for prosecution under federal harboring, obstruction, conspiracy, and RICO statutes. It also encourages other undefined "measures" and "action" by DOJ and DHS. Finally, DHS is instructed to develop rules to prevent ineligible noncitizens from receiving public benefits through private organizations like nonprofits, and DOJ is instructed to sue states that provide in-state tuition at state colleges and universities to state residents who lack U.S. citizenship.