24 things Donald Trump is promising to do

We analyzed three rally speeches following President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the 2024 race. He made nearly the same promises at each one, each time a cap to his stump speech.

Below is a full list of what Trump promised, alongside some context. Of course, this is not a comprehensive list of every promise Trump has made, rather, a focused look at what he is promising right now on the campaign trail.

A quick note: For some items, we have left the reader to interpret for themselves. Those are broad pledges that are straightforward, but not detailed such as, “I will keep you out of wars,” or, “I will prevent World War III.”

1. On Day 1, “we will begin the largest deportation operation in American history.”

Context: Trump is pledging to deploy a “massive dragnet” to arrest and deport millions of undocumented migrants. He has told crowds, and Time magazine in April, that he would use local law enforcement to do this as well as, potentially, the National Guard and active duty military. He has not offered more specifics about how any of those mechanisms would work. He has indicated in his speeches that he would first target “criminals,” mentioning violent crimes like murder and rape.

This is not a new pledge. Trump promised mass deportations as part of his 2016 campaign.

2. “My very first day back in the White House, I will terminate every single open border policy of the Biden-Harris administration, and we will seal the border.”

Context: Trump has promised to restore some of his hardline immigration policies that the Biden administration has reversed. He gave a run-down of this in Minnesota, saying, “I will restore the travel ban, suspend refugee admissions, stop the resettlement, and keep the terrorists the hell out of our country.”

Trump’s initial ban of people arriving from Muslim countries was ruled unconstitutional, but he revised it to focus on potential threats, though it still largely included Muslim countries.

In addition, Trump would bring back “Remain in Mexico,” which aimed to force asylum seekers to wait in Mexico before they could cross into the United States to claim asylum. That policy has faced legal, human rights and political pushback on both sides of the border.

Trump has also indicated he may try to use Title 42 emergency powers for immigration purposes, especially in returning child migrants to families. And he has left open the idea of again separating migrant families, though a court has ruled that policy cannot restart during the next administration.