The Trump administration has painted a picture that President Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office is an unprecedented start to an era of peace and prosperity that will enhance the quality of life for all Americans.
This is far from the truth.
Through a deluge of legally questionable executive orders and policies, the administration has implemented hundreds of measures that disproportionately impact Black, Brown, and LGBTQ communities. Civil rights organizations have sounded the alarm on these actions, including on directives to restore “truth and sanity” by attempting to erase the ugly truth of America’s history which includes the oppression of people of color, women, and LGBTQ communities and instead restore offensive federal sites and monuments that previous administrations removed or renamed.
From misleading falsehoods about “woke” educational ideology to maneuvers to defer civil rights, The Emancipator fact-checked some of the more egregious claims.
On deportation and immigration enforcement
Fact Check #1 The White House promises an “unprecedented era of homeland security.” However, deportation and immigration enforcement have disproportionately targeted Black and Brown populations, many of whom are not receiving due process that is guaranteed by law. There is no evidence to support that mass deportations make the country secure. Studies show that immigration does not lead to high crime rates and that immigrants are less likely to be imprisoned for crimes.
“From Henry Cabot Lodge in the late 19th century to Donald Trump, anti-immigration politicians have repeatedly tried to link immigrants to crime, but our research confirms that this is a myth and not based on fact,” said Ran Abramitzky, an economics professor at Stanford University, in a statement.
Yet, the Trump administration has disproportionately focused on immigrants from Black and Brown countries. Out of 26,606 arrests by U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) in the first quarter of 2025, nearly 300 have been from European countries and Canada, whereas nearly 23,500 of those arrested are from the Caribbean, Africa, Mexico, and Central and South American countries, according to an analysis by The Emancipator of statistics compiled by ICE.
On Education
Fact Check #2 The Department of Education claims under the Trump administration it “has refocused priorities on meaningful learning over woke ideology.” The White House also says President Trump is committed to HBCUs.
However, education experts have long asserted that culturally competent and inclusive teaching is the best way to reach a diverse pool of learners.
“An inclusive education is fundamental to public education no matter where students live, who they are, or the language they speak. Public education is founded on the core educational principle of engaging students on a broad range of ideas will bring together disparate elements in our society, prepare them for citizenship, and allow them to become productive members of an increasingly interconnected world,” National Education Association President Becky Pringle said in a press release.
The Department of Education has said it dismissed 17 complaints against books banned at the local school level and asserts that it is not the place of its civil rights office to investigate the complaints.
However, according to PEN America, a free expression and literary rights organization, book bans have become a bellwether of a “campaign of educational censorship writ large.” Book bans predominantly target books on topics related to race, sexuality, and gender identity, the organization also says.
Similarly, the Department of Defense is targeting books and educational material deemed “potentially related to gender ideology or discriminatory equity ideology topics” in schools run by the military.
The broadly written, Trump administration-pushed, anti-DEI “compliance review” impacts more than 67,000 children enrolled in Department of Defense Education Activity schools across the world. “The Antiracist Kid” by Tiffany Jewell” is among the books reportedly removed from school libraries.
The president signed an executive order purportedly supporting HBCUs and the White House said he is “committed to elevating HBCUs as beacons of educational excellence and economic opportunity.” However, his administration rescinded policies and programs promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion and has threatened to withhold funding from higher education institutions that have DEI programs and initiatives. Federal grants and contracts that support HBCU students and are tied to DEI, such as mentorship programs for students of color and research grants for racial disparities, have also been cut.
On civil rights enforcement
Fact Check #3 The Trump administration claims it “restores the true promise of the Civil Rights Movement — a system that does not differentiate between Americans based on race and where success is determined by individual merit, free from discriminatory practices that prioritize group outcomes over personal achievement.”
However, it has closed civil rights offices that enforce federal civil rights laws across several federal agencies, including at the Department of Education and the Department of Homeland Security. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is also shuttering its civil rights office in June and DOJ leadership has reportedly shifted the focus of its civil rights lawyers from priorities such as police brutality and discrimination to anti-Christian bias and transgender athletes.
On criminal justice
Fact Check #4 The White House claims that under the Trump administration the president has taken actions that are “keeping Americans safe” as well as “stopping crime and upholding justice.”
However, through an executive order, he empowered U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to pursue the death penalty “where possible.” Of 2,270 prisoners sentenced to death in 2022, nearly 41% were Black and 16% were Hispanic. The Department of Justice also paused civil rights investigations and ordered a review of police reform agreements under the Biden administration.
On health care
Fact Check #5 President Trump has promised that Medicaid will not be touched in the GOP budget plan.
Many Republican lawmakers are looking to slash federal funding to Medicaid, arguing that it will help reduce the deficit and cut down on fraud. Nearly 50% of Black Americans utilized Medicaid and other public health insurance in 2023, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health.
Medicaid expansion has helped reduce racial disparities in health coverage compared to states where the program is not expanded, according to an analysis by KFF.
Democrats, including New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, criticized a proposal to slash $880 billion dollars from Medicaid – a move aimed at funding tax cuts for large corporations. They argued that working-class people and undocumented immigrants proportionally pay more in taxes.
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