Donald Trump, in a sweeping declaration on Friday, announced he is terminating all executive orders signed by his predecessor, Joe Biden, with an autopen. The move, detailed in a post on his Truth Social platform, immediately triggered a halt to all asylum decisions by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), a development with profound implications for thousands of hopefuls worldwide, including Kenyans.

The core of this disruption lies in Trump's unsubstantiated claim that the autopen, a machine that replicates a signature, was used illegally by aides to Biden. "Any document signed by Sleepy Joe Biden with the Autopen, which was approximately 92% of them, is hereby terminated," Trump wrote, alleging without evidence that "Radical Left Lunatics" had effectively seized control from a president he has repeatedly painted as mentally unfit.

This action prompted an immediate and drastic response from the nation's immigration authority. USCIS Director Joseph Edlow confirmed the agency has "halted all asylum decisions until we can ensure that every alien is vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible." This freeze creates a sudden, daunting barrier for those fleeing persecution, a direct hit to a system that, while complex, offered a pathway to safety.

A Question of Legality and Precedent

While Trump's announcement is dramatic, the use of autopens by American presidents is far from new. The practice dates back centuries, with presidents from Thomas Jefferson to Barack Obama utilizing signature-replicating devices. Legal opinions have long supported this practice; a 2005 memo from the U.S. Office of Legal Counsel affirmed that a president can direct a subordinate to affix their signature, including by autopen, to make a bill law. Even Trump himself has acknowledged using an autopen during his presidency, though he claimed it was only for "very unimportant papers."

Analysts note that while a sitting president has the authority to revoke a predecessor's executive orders, the rationale of targeting the signing method is a novel and legally contentious strategy. It appears designed to challenge the legitimacy of the entire Biden administration, a theme Trump has consistently pushed.

The Kenyan Connection: A Lifeline Cut Short

For Kenyans, this is not a distant political drama. The U.S. is a primary destination for refugees being resettled from Kenya, which hosts hundreds of thousands of displaced people from neighbouring conflict zones. In 2024 alone, 2,354 refugees were resettled in the United States from Kenya. Furthermore, as of 2022, over 7,500 asylum applications from Kenyan nationals were reported in the U.S.

The sudden asylum freeze effectively slams the door on these individuals. Key impacts include:

• Stranded Applicants: All pending asylum cases are now in limbo, leaving applicants and their families in a state of prolonged uncertainty.
• Blocked Pathways: The U.S. Refugee Admissions Programme, a critical pipeline for those in Kenyan refugee camps, faces a complete shutdown.
• Economic and Social Strain: The halt disrupts family reunifications and cuts off potential social and economic lifelines for both the diaspora community and their relatives back home.

The move is part of a broader, aggressive anti-immigration stance by Trump, who also vowed to "permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries." This rhetoric, combined with the asylum freeze, signals a period of profound uncertainty for global migration and deepens the crisis for the world's most vulnerable populations. As Washington grapples with the legal and political fallout, thousands of lives, including many with ties to Kenya, hang in the balance.