Deportations

Trump has vowed to “launch the largest deportation program in American history”, starting from day one.

He is expected to declare a national border emergency, and order the military to help secure the southern border, according to Fox News.

Trump has also said he will end a longtime policy that has kept federal immigration authorities from conducting raids on churches and schools.

Any mass deportation programme is expected to face logistical difficulties, billions in costs and a flurry of legal challenges.

Remain in Mexico

Trump may quickly move to re-implement his “Remain in Mexico” policy, which during his first term returned about 70,000 non-Mexican asylum seekers across the border to Mexico to await hearings.

End birthright citizenship

Trump has called the 150-year-old constitutional right that says anyone born on US soil is an American citizen “ridiculous” and vowed to scrap it on day one.

But doing that is much more difficult than simply issuing an executive order, because birthright citizenship is explicitly guaranteed by the US Constitution.

Closing the border on health grounds

A 1944 measure called Title 42 allows the US government to curb migration to protect public health. It was last used during the pandemic, but US media reports that the incoming administration is looking for a disease that would help justify its plans to close the southern US border with Mexico.

Drug cartels

Trump is expected to classify drug cartels as “foreign terrorist organisations”, putting them on a list alongside groups like Al Qaeda, so-called Islamic State and Hamas.

Build the wall

When Trump was first elected president in 2016, he signed an executive order to build a border wall. Although parts of the wall have been built, there is still much left uncompleted, and he may try to finish what he started.