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(WASHINGTON) — On a call with reporters on Inauguration Day morning, incoming White House officials previewed a series of executive orders and other actions they said the incoming Trump administration plans to take to address immigration and U.S. border issues.

“We will protect the American people against invasion,” one of the incoming officials said during the call. “This is about national security. This is about public safety. And this is about the victims of some of the most violent, abusive criminals we’ve seen enter our country in our lifetime. And it ends today.”

Many of the proposed executive orders revealed on Monday’s call require help from international partners like Mexico and would almost certainly spark legal battles.

Although one of the incoming officials said that the call would “preview a series of actions to be taken today,” it was not clear from the call, during which officials took very few questions from reporters, that everything about which they spoke would actually happen Monday.

Here’s a look at some of the promised executive actions:

Declaring a national emergency at the southern border

The incoming administration will be declaring a national emergency at the southern border. This will allow DoD to deploy armed forces to the region and free up resources to build a wall and other barriers there, as he promised to do during his first administration.

“What this action does is it deploys armed forces, erects physical barriers by directing DOD and DHS secretaries to finish the wall along the border, and allows for counter-UAS capabilities near the southern border in addition,” an incoming White House official said.

It’s not totally clear what the official meant by “counter-UAS capabilities,” but it is important to note that since at least the Obama administration, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has used drones and other UAS (unmanned aircraft systems) to help conduct surveillance of the southwest border.

The secretary of defense will be directed to deploy armed troops as well as the National Guard to the border, according to the call. In response to a follow-up question, an incoming White House official was unable to say how many troops will be deployed, responding that the decision “is going to be up to the secretary of defense.”

Clarifying the military’s role in ‘protecting the territorial integrity of the United States’

This executive order aims to allow the military to “prioritize our borders and territorial integrity,” an incoming White House official said during the call. The official further said that the order will direct the military to plan operations to maintain territorial integrity by “repelling forms of invasion including unlawful mass migration, narcotics trafficking, human smuggling and trafficking, and other criminal activities.”

Reinstating ‘remain in Mexico,’ ending ‘catch and release,’ and building the wall

In addition to creating federal and state partnerships to help enforce immigration policies and deportation priorities, this executive order would also aim to end the practice of “catch and release,” and mandates building a wall along the southern U.S. border.

Though often used pejoratively, “catch and release” describes the practice of releasing undocumented immigrants after they’ve been processed at the U.S. border and while they await immigration hearings in court. The term originated during the George W. Bush administration and describes a practice that has been implemented during every administration since, including Donald Trump’s first administration.

Because it’s logistically impossible to safely detain migrants indefinitely, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and other authorities release some migrants into the community to wait out their legal proceedings.

Remain in Mexico is a policy implemented during the first Trump administration that required some asylum seekers to wait in Mexico, rather than in the U.S., as their petitions were processed in U.S. courts. This action would require Mexico’s cooperation, which incoming White House officials did not address during Monday’s call.

Trump also promised during his first presidential campaign to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, and signed an executive order to that end days after assuming office. Few new sections of barrier along the border were erected during his administration, though many sections of damaged or outdated barriers were repaired or replaced.

Designating cartels as foreign terrorist organizations

The incoming administration will sign an executive order to designate drug cartels and other criminal organizations, including the U.S.-El Salvadoran-based MS-13 and Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua, as foreign terrorist organizations or specifically designated global terrorists (SDGT).

An incoming White House official said Monday that the order will direct authorities to specifically remove members of Tren de Agua from the United States. And, citing the Alien Enemies Act enacted more than two centuries ago, the official said Tren de Agua has become an “irregular armed force of Venezuela’s government conducting a predatory incursion and invasion into the United States.”

‘End[ing] asylum … to illegals’
The incoming White House official said the Trump administration is going to “end asylum and close the border to illegals via proclamation.” Essentially, this means undocumented migrants caught between ports of entry will not be able to claim asylum, which in turn will “create an immediate removal process without possibility of asylum,” the incoming official said.

Like other executive orders announced Monday, this one would possibly face legal hurdles for several reasons. Current laws allow asylum seekers the ability to attempt to request asylum or protection once they enter the country, regardless of if they crossed between ports of entry. This has been the basis for several legal battles against some of the more recent asylum restrictions that the Biden administration implemented in June 2024.

Suspending refugee resettlement

The incoming official said during Monday’s call that the incoming Trump administration also plans to suspend refugee resettlements for at least four months.

Ending birthright citizenship

An incoming officials on Monday’s call said “We are then going to end birthright citizenship. This action gives effect to the phrase ‘and subject to the jurisdiction thereof’ in the 14th Amendment to clarify that … the federal government will not recognize automatic birthright citizenship for children of illegal aliens born in the United States.”

It was unclear from Monday’s call whether ending birthright citizenship will be part of the day’s announcements or will come later. Trump made the same promise during his first term in office.

Enhanced vetting

The incoming official said Monday that the new administration is also going to “enhance vetting and screening of illegal aliens” and direct agencies to provide recommendations to the president for suspending entry for migrants from “countries of particular concern.”

Creating ‘homeland security task forces’

To help target gang members, criminals and other undocumented migrants, the new administration is planning to establish “federal homeland security task forces” so federal, state and local law enforcement can cooperate further in removing them.

Restoring the death penalty when a law enforcement officer is murdered
According to the incoming official, the new administration plans to “restore the death penalty in public safety” by directing the attorney general to seek capital punishment when an undocumented immigrant murders a law enforcement officer or commits other capital crimes. The new administration will also encourage state attorneys general and district attorneys to also pursue the death penalty in such cases, according to the incoming official.

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(NEW YORK) — Millions of Americans should prepare for an Arctic blast that will blanket much of the country in below-freezing temperatures over the next several days.

Frigid conditions are expected over a large swath of the contiguous U.S. in the aftermath of a powerful cold front moving through the East Coast on Wednesday, forecasts show.

Once the rain and wind has subsided, the icy conditions will extend east and south from the upper Midwest — reaching as far as Texas and Florida.

The cold air moving over the Great Lakes while they are still ice-free is expected to generate a lake effect snow event.

The National Weather Service has issued a lake effect snow warning for portions of northwestern Pennsylvania and western New York, where locally 2 feet to 3 feet of snow is possible, forecasts show.

A winter storm warning has also been issued across portions of Wisconsin and Michigan, where locally 1 foot to 2 feet of lake-effect snow is possible.

Chilly temperatures got an early start in the upper Midwest. On Wednesday morning, wind chills dipped to as low as -38 degrees in eastern North Dakota.

The arctic air mass will then move east and south, bringing the coldest air of the season from Texas to New York. A frost advisory has even been issued for parts of northern Florida, including Gainesville.

The frigid temperatures are expected to last through Friday and evening Saturday morning in some regions, including Minneapolis, Chicago, New York City and Atlanta.

The cold will begin to ease this weekend, first across the center of the country, then reaching the East Coast by Sunday and Monday.

Above average temperatures are favored across much of the country next week, according to the latest forecast from NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center.

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(NEW YORK) — Accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann has been charged with a seventh murder: the death of Valerie Mack, whose remains were first found 24 years ago, according to a superseding indictment unsealed Tuesday.

A hunter’s dog discovered Mack’s decapitated body in a wooded area of Manorville on Long Island on Nov. 19, 2000. Her remains were bound with rope inside a black plastic bag which was wrapped with duct tape, according to a bail application that accompanied the new indictment.

Both of her hands had been severed from her body and one of her legs was cut off, the document said.

The rest of Mack’s remains were found more than a decade later, in April 2011, along Ocean Parkway near Gilgo Beach, authorities said.

Prosecutors said they linked Heuermann to Mack’s death in part through a mitochondrial DNA analysis of a female hair found on Mack’s body. It matched the profiles of Heuermann’s wife and daughter, the bail application said. At the time of Mack’s murder, Heuermann’s daughter would have been between 3 and 4 years old.

Prosecutors said they also linked Heuermann to Mack’s death through evidence recovered on some of the 350 electronic devices they seized from him that include his “significant collection of violent, bondage and torture pornography” dating back to at least 1994. This online collection included images of mutilation and tying up women with ropes, two things prosecutors said are consistent with injuries inflicted on Mack and how she was bound, officials said.

Investigators said they found one document that they believe Heuermann used to “plan out” his kills. The document was created in 2000, the year Mack was killed. Under a section named “supplies,” Heuermann allegedly listed “rope/cord,” “saw/cutting tools,” and “foam drain cleaner.” Under a section labeled “DS,” believed to stand for “dump site,” Heuermann allegedly listed one of the locations where Mack’s remains were found, officials said.

The document also included a “body prep” section with a note to “remove head and hands,” according to the bail application.

Heuermann, 61, is charged with one count of second degree murder in connection with Mack’s death.

He appeared in court on Tuesday shackled in a suit and told the judge, “Your honor, I am not guilty of any of these charges.”

Judge Timothy Mazzei continued to hold Heuermann without bail.

The defense was given until next month to file motions related to evidence. The defense has questioned the DNA methods prosecutors used and may try to limit admissibility at trial. The defense is also considering whether to ask the judge to sever any of the murder charges from others.

The New York architect was initially arrested in July 2023.

Heuermann has pleaded not guilty in the murders of six other women: Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Amber Costello, Jessica Taylor and Sandra Costilla. The first victim was found in 1993 and the last victims were found in 2010.

Heuermann has pleaded not guilty in the murders of six women: Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Amber Costello, Jessica Taylor and Sandra Costilla. The first victim was found in 1993 and the last victims were found in 2010.

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