A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
President-elect Donald Trump and his transition team are working vigorously to pick political appointees who will carry out his agenda.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
He has promised on his first day in office, within the first few hours, in fact, to close the border and more.
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DONALD TRUMP: On Day 1, I will launch the largest deportation program of criminals in the history of America.
FADEL: Trump has also promised to take a hatchet to President Biden's climate agenda and supercharge energy exploration.
MARTÍNEZ: So let's see how feasible this is with NPR White House correspondent Franco Ordoñez. OK, so Franco, Trump gets sworn in January 20. What can we expect to see a hundred days from then?
FRANCO ORDOÑEZ, BYLINE: Yeah, A, I mean, you mentioned the border and drilling. You know, he also plans to gut climate subsidies and offer tax breaks to oil and gas producers. He's promising to change the Affordable Care Act and impose big new tariffs on U.S. imports. There's also been a focus on the culture war issues, with Trump planning to ban transgender women in sports and critical race theory in schools. But basically, Trump wants to return and resume where he left off after his first term in office. Clearly, the top priority is immigration.
MARTÍNEZ: So, as we heard, he's calling for deporting record numbers of immigrants. What might that look like?
ORDOÑEZ: Yeah, I mean, it's really complicated. I mean, there are so many operational and legal challenges here. It would take a huge investment in resources, manpower to deport millions of people. I will note Trump tweaked his language a bit in the last few weeks. As you heard in the clip, he added, quote, "criminals." It's the mass deportation of criminals. That is a key distinction that does give him some flexibility. But he's also planning to invoke a wartime authority - it's called the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 - to deport foreign nationals without a hearing. I spoke with Leon Fresco about this. He was appointed to serve on Trump's Homeland Security Advisory Council in his first administration.
LEON FRESCO: You have to show that a specific country invaded or attempted to invade you to cause instability. And so President Trump is going to say that certain countries like Venezuela and others are intentionally authorizing criminal elements to come into the country.
ORDOÑEZ: Fresco is a Democrat, and he says Trump is trying to create a, quote, "shock and awe" type of environment so that people will take matters into their own hands and basically self-deport.
MARTÍNEZ: Now, I keep hearing that Trump won't have the same guardrails this time around. How true is that?
ORDOÑEZ: I mean, it won't be the same guardrails, but that doesn't mean there won't be any. I mean, he will need congressional approval for some things, such as for tax breaks and to make changes to the Affordable Care Act. Republicans did win the Senate, so a lot will depend on who wins the House. There's also dealing with the government bureaucracy, but his team has experience with that. Loyalty is a big deal to Trump. He hired Susie Wiles as chief of staff, who was his campaign manager. So he's obviously looking for people he trusts. And one thing we'll be watching very closely is Trump wants to reclassify tens of thousands of federal workers and turn them into political positions for people who will need - who will be more invested in carrying out his policies.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah, that's who Trump has called the deep state that stopped or slowed him from carrying out some of his more extreme ideas.
ORDOÑEZ: Yeah, more guardrails. Trump actually did this at the end of his last administration. Biden rescinded it and imposed a rule to make it harder for him to do it again. The reality is any rule that can be made can be rescinded. The question is, how long will it take?
MARTÍNEZ: NPR's Franco Ordoñez, it's good to talk to you again.
ORDOÑEZ: Thanks, A. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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