First lady Melania Trump, President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and second lady Usha Vance attend the Commander in Chief Ball, part of the 60th Presidential Inauguration, in Washington on Monday. | AP/PTI
LIVE | Day 1 of Trump 2.0: Migrants stranded as US tightens security on southern border
No move yet on F-1, H-1B visas; undocumented migrants anxious as Trump moves to realise pledge of mass deportations of 11 million people living in US illegally
Freshly inaugurated American President Donald J Trump on Monday (January 20) promised a blitz of executive orders as he announced the beginning of a "golden age" of America.
In a fiery inaugural address, 78-year-old Trump laid out his vision for the next four years, described January 20, 2025 as the "liberation day" for the US and declared that "America's decline is over" as he will bring changes "very quickly".
Trump signed executive orders to beef up security at the southern border that began taking effect hours after he was inaugurated, making good on his defining political promise to crack down on immigration and marking another wild swing in White House policy on the divisive issue.
Some of the orders revive priorities from his first administration that his predecessor had rolled back, including forcing asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico and finishing the border wall. Others created sweeping new strategies, like an effort to end automatic citizenship for anyone born in America, pulling the military into border security and ending use of a Biden-era app used by nearly a million migrants to enter America.
However, there is no word yet on the policy changes in the issuance of H-1B and other work visas.
In locations like Tijuana in Mexico, migrants from Haiti, Venezuela and around the world were seen waiting for their appointments to legally enter the US.
But US Customs and Border Protection announced Monday that the CBP One app that worked as recently as that morning would no longer be used to admit migrants after facilitating entry for nearly 1 million people since January 2023. Tens of thousands of appointments that were scheduled into February were canceled, applicants were told.
Here is Trump's speech's full text
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Read updates below
Live Updates
- 21 Jan 2025 3:29 PM IST
Germany will persuade Trump to reverse WHO decision
Germany will try to talk US President Donald Trump out of his decision to withdraw the United States from the World Health Organisation (WHO), German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach says.
"The new US president's announcement to withdraw from the World Health Organisation is a serious blow to the international fight against global health crises," he says, according to Reuters.
- 21 Jan 2025 3:21 PM IST
Trump threatens 100% tariffs against BRICS countries if they try replacing US dollar
President Donald Trump has again warned that he will impose 100 per cent tariffs against countries of the BRICS bloc, of which India is a part, if they take any steps to replace the US dollar.
Trump, who took oath as the 47th president of the US on Monday, said, "If the BRICS nations want to do that, that's okay, but we're going to put at least a 100 per cent tariff on the business they do with the United States." They “have a 100 per cent tariff if they so much as even think” about reducing the use of the dollar in global trade, he added.
BRICS is an intergovernmental organisation of ten countries --Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates.
In December too, Trump warned BRICS nations against such a move.
“We require a commitment from these countries that they will neither create a new BRICS currency, nor back any other currency to replace the mighty US dollar or, they will face 100 per cent tariffs and should expect to say goodbye to selling into the wonderful US economy,” Trump had warned.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in December said India had never been for de-dollarisation and there was no proposal to have a BRICS currency.
Responding to a question on immigration, Trump on Monday said he is fine with legal immigration.
The nation will need more legal immigration as manufacturing is going to expand because of his tariff policies, Trump said.
“I'm fine with legal immigration. I like it. We need people, and I'm absolutely fine with it. We want to have it," he said. PTI
- 21 Jan 2025 3:20 PM IST
First lady Melania Trump, President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and second lady Usha Vance attend the Commander in Chief Ball, part of the 60th Presidential Inauguration, in Washington on Monday. | AP/PTI
- 21 Jan 2025 3:13 PM IST
Spain's Deputy PM Diaz withdraws from Elon Musk's X
Spanish Labour Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Yolanda Diaz said on Tuesday she will withdraw from Elon Musk's social media platform X due in part to the billionaire's behaviour during events linked to President Donald Trump's inauguration, said a report by news agency AFP.
"I made this decision, which I know is complicated, but I will not be part of a social network based on the use of algorithms that encourage xenophobic ideas, against human rights and encourage the extreme right in the world," she said in an interview with state TV station TVE. She said the decision followed "Elon Musk's positioning yesterday, not only with his gestures, but with the absolutely convoluted speeches he is making".
- 21 Jan 2025 3:09 PM IST
US senate confirms Marco Rubio as US secretary of state in Trump administration
The US Senate has confirmed the appointment of Marco Rubio as the 72nd US Secretary of State in the Trump administration.
According to the official website of the US Senate, Rubio, who is the senator from Florida, won the vote by 99-0 during the 1st session of the 119th Congress.
The White House, taking to X, also confirmed his appointment as the Secretary of State. "Congratulations to Marco Rubio on his unanimous confirmation as Secretary of State--the first in President Trump's Cabinet. America is back and entering a golden age," the White House said.
According to the White House, Marco Rubio is the son of two hard-working immigrants from Cuba. His father worked as a banquet bartender, and his mother balanced caring for the family at home while working in a factory, as a cashier, and as a hotel maid. Rubio saw firsthand how hard work, faith, and community helped his parents achieve the American Dream.
- 21 Jan 2025 3:05 PM IST
Trump praises Indian-American Second Lady Usha Vance
US President Donald Trump has said that he would have chosen Usha Chilukuri Vance, JD Vance's wife, as his Vice President as "she is smarter but the line of succession did not work that way".
Usha, 39, on Monday, became the first Indian-American and Hindu Second Lady after her husband JD was sworn in as the 50th Vice President of the US.
At the inauguration ceremony, Usha in a pink coat, held the Bible in one hand and their daughter Mirabel Rose in the other, as Vance placed his left hand on the religious text, and raising his right hand took the oath of office.
As a lawyer who is the daughter of Indian immigrants - her parents' ancestral village is Vadluru in West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh - Usha is also one of the youngest second ladies assuming the position.
She is the youngest second lady since 38-year-old Jane Hadley Barkley, the wife of former President Harry Truman's Vice President Alben Barkley.
After Trump was sworn in as the 47th President of the United States with JD as his deputy, the 78-year-old Republican addressed a crowd in the overflow room, calling them "beautiful".
Trump praised his team, especially JD, for his successful re-election bid.
"I watch JD over a period of time. I endorsed him in Ohio. He was a great senator and a very, very smart one," said Trump, but added, "The only one smarter is his wife". This reference made everyone around the hall laugh.
Trump then looked at JD and said, "I would have chosen her but somehow the line of succession didn't work that way, right?" But, Trump did not elaborate on the "line of succession" comment. “She is great and he is great. This a great, beautiful couple and an unbelievable career,” he continued.
- 21 Jan 2025 3:00 PM IST
Afghan Taliban govt announces prisoner swap with US
The Taliban government announced on Tuesday the release by the United States of an Afghan prisoner in exchange for US detainees, saying the deal was brokered by Qatar.
"An Afghan fighter Khan Mohammad imprisoned in America has been released in exchange for American citizens and returned to the country," the Afghan foreign ministry said in a statement.
The ministry said Mohammad had been serving a life sentence in the state of California after being arrested "almost two decades ago" in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar.
Asked by AFP, the foreign ministry refused to provide further details or the number of American prisoners.
- 21 Jan 2025 2:58 PM IST
Reinstatement of Cuba on terror list shows US 'bullying': China
China said on Tuesday that newly inaugurated President Donald Trump's reinstatement of Cuba to a list of state sponsors of terrorism was a demonstration of US "bullying".
Washington's repeated use of the list "runs counter to facts... (and) fully reveals the hegemonic, high-handed and bullying face of the United States", foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said.
- 21 Jan 2025 2:54 PM IST
US President fires four officials in first Truth Social post since swearing in
US President Donald Trump fired four senior government officials appointed by his predecessor early Tuesday and warned "over a thousand more" faced imminent dismissal in a first post on Truth Social since his inauguration, according to news agency AFP.
"My Presidential Personnel Office is actively in the process of identifying and removing over a thousand Presidential Appointees from the previous Administration, who are not aligned with our vision to Make America Great Again," Trump said on the platform.
“Jose Andres from the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition, Mark Milley from the National Infrastructure Advisory Council, Brian Hook from the Wilson Center for Scholars, and Keisha Lance Bottoms from the President’s Export Council—YOU’RE FIRED!” Trump added.
