Donald Trump on Monday signed a series of executive orders shortly after being sworn in as the United States president.

Trump issued an executive order seeking to end birthright citizenship in the United States. This came despite broad legal consensus that the Constitution guarantees citizenship to nearly all persons born on United States soil, Politico reported.

The 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution says that all persons “born or naturalised in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and the State wherein they reside”.

The president on Monday directed federal agencies to refuse to recognise citizenship for children who were born in the country to mothers who are in the country illegally or there legally on visas, if the father is not a United States citizen or a green card holder.

The executive order would deny citizenship to children who are born on United States soil starting 30 days from the order, if at least one parent is not a US citizen or a lawful permanent resident.

The Republican Party leader signed an executive order once again withdrawing the United States from the 2015 Paris Agreement on combatting climate change.

He said that the deal had the potential to “damage or stifle the American economy” and that such agreements “must not unduly or unfairly burden the United States”.

Under the 2015 deal, nearly all countries have agreed to keep the long-term global average surface temperature well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5 degrees Celsius by the end of this century.

This is the second time Trump has withdrawn the United States from the climate deal. In June 2017, during his first tenure as the president, Trump had said that the United States would cease all participation in the agreement, contending that it would undermine the country’s economy. The withdrawal took effect in November 2020.

This withdrawal was overturned by an executive order signed by President Joe Biden when he was sworn-in on January 20, 2021. The United States had formally rejoined the agreement in February 2021.

Trump also signed an order withdrawing the United States from the World Health Organization, citing alleged mishandling of the Covid-19 pandemic by the global health agency.

The previous Trump administration had taken steps to withdraw from the WHO in 2020 and had suspended funding to the organisation. However, Biden had reversed the withdrawal.

The new United States president also pardoned about 1,500 of his supporters who had been arrested for the insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, in 2021.

The pardons end a “grave national injustice that has been perpetrated upon the American people” for the past four years and “begins a process of national reconciliation,” Trump said in his executive order.

Also read: In Trump’s second term, a focus on immigration, nationalism – and retribution

The order also commuted the sentences of 14 persons convicted of offences related to the riots.

After Biden defeated Trump in the 2020 presidential election, the Republican leader had claimed that the polls were not fair and there was a conspiracy to stop him from winning another term.

Trump’s assertion led to his supporters storming the US Capitol, or parliament building, on January 6, 2021, to prevent Biden from being certified as the next president.

A report by a special counsel investigating Trump made public on January 14 said that he would have been convicted of interference in the 2020 election if he had not won the 2024 polls. His re-election as the president made it impossible for the prosecution to continue.

Trump revoked 78 policies and regulations put in place by his predecessor Biden and froze government hiring, excluding the military. The hiring freeze is aimed at forcing existing staff and funds to be used more efficiently, the order said.

Trump, who was the US president between 2017 and 2021, also signed an executive order dismantling diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives within the federal government. The programme was meant to promote the representation and participation of persons from marginalised backgrounds.

He also ordered all government employees to return to in-person work.

Trump also said that he will declare a “national emergency” at the United States border with Mexico to block undocumented immigration. “All illegal entry will immediately be halted, and we will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places in which they came,” Trump said in his inaugural address on Monday.

The declaration of emergency provides for the federal government to send the military to the border.

Trump won the US presidential election on November 6, securing 295 out of the 538 electoral college votes, to return for his second term. Democratic Party candidate and former Vice President Kamala Harris’s tally was 226.

With his victory, he became the second person in history to secure non-consecutive presidential terms after Grover Cleveland in the late 19th century.

In May, Trump became the first former US president to be convicted of a felony after a court in New York found him guilty in a case pertaining to illegally influencing the 2016 presidential election.