The Value of Executive Orders Depends on Who is Issuing Them

The first Executive Order was issued by President George Washington. It was addressed to the heads of the federal departments, and simply stated “Impress me with a full, precise and distinct general idea of the affairs of the United States.” This pertained specifically to each of the individual departments at the time and what their functions involved in regards to matters of the nation. One of the most famous and profound Executive orders was issued by Abraham Lincoln - The Emancipation Proclamation. 

As the head of state and Commander-in-chief of the armed forces, the president of the United States has broad executive powers to enforce the law; this is among other discretionary powers, as stipulated in Article II of the Constitution. An executive order is a federal directive, but is not written in stone, so to speak, and is subject to judicial review, and can be overturned if it does not comport with statute or the Constitution.

Since their inception executive orders were not numbered, but that changed in 1907 when a numbering system and the Federal Register Act were implemented with a start point of 1862. Some have estimated, without any first-hand knowledge, that over 50,000 may have been issued. We can get an idea of the scope of executive orders by looking at some of the presidents and the numbers of orders they issued. They run the gamut from George Washington who issued (8), Thomas Jefferson (4), Abraham Lincoln (48), Andrew Johnson (79), Ulysses Grant (217), Benjamin Harrison (143), Theodore Roosevelt (1081), Calvin Coolidge (1203), Franklin Roosevelt (3721), Harry Truman (907), Ronald Reagan (381), William Clinton (364), Barack Obama (276), and Donald Trump (220).

This brings us to the current President. Since taking office on January 20 Mr. Biden has signed 59 executive orders in a matter of 70 days. These directives follow, involving a broad spectrum of issues and the number concerning each issue: Corona Virus (15), Immigration (11), Equity (10), Economy (7), Environment (5) National Security (4), Health Care (2), Census (1), Ethics (1), Regulations (1), Labor (1), Other? (1). Of these, 23 represent reversals of President Trump’s executive orders.

Some of President Biden’s executive orders have had an egregious and detrimental effect on the nation in recent memory. The repercussions of his reversals of his predecessor’s executive orders have been devastating.  In the case of immigration, the southern border is porous and now open, and is more than just a crisis - it is a human tragedy. Construction of the border wall was stopped, the funding cut off, allowing thousands of illegal immigrants to enter through gaps in the wall.

Children by the thousands have been admitted into the country, and are now being held in makeshift cubicles. Biden’s non-policy poses a direct threat to the safety and health of American citizens. It has become clear and inarguable that his actions are reckless and intentionally motivated by the Democrat agenda to increase its voting constituency.

This is all in the midst of the Coronavirus, and ICE conceding that no testing is being done, with the possibility of rampant reinfection, mutations, no masks or social distancing. There have been incidents of rapes reported, and children as young as 4 years old left alone in desert areas by "coyotes," and not the four-legged kind.

Texas Governor Abbott held a press conference at the Expo Center in San Antonio and stated “Children at this facility are being sexually assaulted. There is not enough staff to safely supervise the children at this facility. Some children in this facility are not eating throughout the day, and children with COVID are not being physically separated from children without COVID.”

The administration has also imposed a gag rule, restricting access to these facilities by the media. Recently a group of Republican lawmakers were allowed in, but were told they could not take photos, but did so anyway for public view. There have also been several attempts made by individuals from the Middle East that are on the terrorist watch list to enter at the border, but their efforts have been thwarted by border patrol enforcement officers.

The recklessness and irresponsibility of Biden’s executive orders do not stop at the southern border. He has also reversed President Trump’s travel ban that affected mostly Muslim countries, canceled the Keystone XL Pipeline causing the loss of thousands of jobs and higher prices at the gas pump, and revoked Trump’s restrictions on abortion and transgender in the military. Biden is on a progressive leftist crusade to bring about radical change, secularism, and a socialist nightmare.