This week marks President Donald Trump’s 100th day in office, a traditional time to review the performance of the nation’s chief executive at the start of the four-year term.Trump has moved quickly to press his vision for changing America with federal job cuts, tariffs, immigration enforcement, and opposition to diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.What about Trump’s decisions that particularly affect Alabama?While it’s too early to project the end results, the 100-day mark is a good spot for a review. The president will likely tout what he says are the accomplishments of his administration when he speaks at the University of Alabama on Thursday.Widening Interstate 65When Trump came to Montgomery in August 2023 to speak at a sold-out Republican Party fundraiser, he made a promise about Interstate 65, the state’s main north-south artery that is known for frustrating traffic delays. “One of the first things that I will do to help the great people of Alabama is to approve a six-lane I-65 from Huntsville to Mobile,” Trump said. “Can everyone agree that’s a big deal? OK, we’ll do that first day.”But the Alabama highway was not mentioned among Trump’s wave executive orders, proclamations, and policy announcement during his first days in office.In March, Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth traveled to Washington to talk to the Trump administration about the I-65 expansion, as well as other Alabama issues.Ainsworth, who will announce soon whether he will run for governor next year, says the project is vital for Alabama because the highway is the state’s main north-south artery and is known for long traffic delays.Space CommandDuring the presidential campaign last year, Alabama congressmen said one benefit of a Trump victory over Kamala Harris would be the relocation of the U.S. Space Command headquarters from Colorado to Alabama.During his first term as president, Trump had supported the Air Force’s decision to move the Space Command headquarters from Colorado Springs, its interim location, to Redstone Arsenal.But President Joe Biden in 2023 reversed the decision, opting to keep the headquarters in Colorado.Alabama officials accused Biden of putting politics ahead of the judgment of the Secretary of the Air Force, who picked Redstone Arsenal as the preferred site.Alabama leaders remain confident that Space Command is coming to the state. “I expect sometime during the month of April that Space Command will officially be assigned to build its headquarters in Huntsville,” Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Saks, said in an April 8 interview on Auburn University’s “Cyber Focus” podcast.On April 11, the inspector general of the Department of Defense released a report on the Space Command decision.Alabama Republicans said the heavily-redacted report supported their longtime assertion that Biden’s decision was wrong.“The Inspector General’s report proves once again that President Trump was right in 2021 – U.S. Space Command Headquarters should be at Redstone Arsenal based on merit and what is best for national security,“ U.S. Rep. Dale Strong, R-Huntsville, said on X.The inspector general’s report was one of two reports requested by Rogers.A provision in the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act prohibited spending money on Space Command’s headquarters pending the outcome of the reviews. That blocked construction work on the facility at Peterson Space Force Base.Two weeks ago, Gov. Kay Ivey signed a joint resolution encouraging the president, Defense secretary and Air Force secretary to immediately establish Space Command’s permanent headquarters at Redstone.“Alabama Republicans and Democrats – along with the facts – agree the U.S. Space Command Headquarters belongs in Huntsville,” Ivey said in signing the resolution.Space Command is charged with defending space and delivering space capabilities to joint and combined U.S. and allied forces. Locating the command in Huntsville would bring at least 1,600 new jobs, AL.com reported.DOGE cutsThe sweeping federal funding cuts announced by Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, led by Elon Musk, has included cuts affecting Alabama.DOGE listed lease terminations for 15 federal offices in Alabama for savings of $3.5 million, USA Today reported.Among those was a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service office lease in Fairhope that was was canceled in March, according to DOGE’s website.The website says the Fairhope lease cancellation will save $707,922, and the as the annual cost for the property was listed at $176,859.The lease terminations were part of what DOGE claims is an attempt to save taxpayer money by eliminating excess federal spending.In some cases, there was confusion about the accuracy of DOGE’s claims, with federal offices in Alabama that were listed unable to confirm the decisions.DOGE initially included the former Greyhound bus station in Montgomery that is now home to the Freedom Rides Museum on a list of buildings that were for sale. Related: How Trump’s presidency could benefit Alabama: Tax and regulation cuts fuel business optimismThe museum memorializes the freedom riders, men and women who traveled across the South to end segregation on buses and in waiting rooms and restaurants in accordance with U.S. Supreme Court rulings that were not being enforced. The riders were attacked and beaten when they arrived in Montgomery.The Montgomery bus station was taken off the list after U.S. Reps. Terri Sewell and Shomari Figures spoke out and U.S. Sen. Katie Britt contacted the Trump administration.DOGE’s plan to slash funding for the National Endowment for the Humanities will cripple the efforts of the Alabama Humanities Alliance and its initiatives to promote history, art and culture throughout the state, Chuck Holmes, executive director of the AHA said.Holmes said the AHA was likely to lose all the federal funding that sustains it.Holmes noted that the Alliance in 2024 provided $380,000 to support storytelling festivals, local history projects, cultural celebrations, humanities-focused podcasts and documentaries.Eighty percent of the federal employees live and work outside the Washington, D.C., area. In Alabama’s 5th congressional district, which includes Huntsville, federal employees make up 7.6% of the workforce in Alabama.Read more: This Alabama congressional district could be one of the hardest hit by DOGE cuts At a town hall meeting in Mobile in March, Figures, a Democrat who represents Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District, said DOGE is not the way to reduce the cost of the federal government.“Don’t believe in DOGE, don’t believe in their mission,” Figures said.“We can find responsible ways to cut waste, cut fraud. There are people in places that have been doing it. Can we be better at it? Absolutely. But is there a better, more responsible way to do it than laying off people who did nothing wrong other than show up to work? Yes.”Banning DEIOne of the president’s first actions for his new term was an executive order to end diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs across the federal government.An early casualty of that policy was the temporary removal of a video on the history of the Tuskegee Airmen from a military training course.Alabama officials spoke up, including Figures and Sewell, the two black members of the state’s congressional district. Sewell said it was misguided to include the story of the Tuskegee Airmen with the efforts to purge DEI.“Their heroism is not ‘DEI,’” Sewell said. “It is American history. I’m calling on the Air Force to immediately reverse this decision. We will not let our history be erased.”The Tuskegee Airmen, known as the “Red Tails,” were the nation’s first Black military pilots and served in World War II.Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said the removal of Tuskegee Airmen videos and curriculum about the Tuskegee Airmen had “been immediately reversed.”Hegesth posted the comment in response to concerns from U.S. Sen. Katie Britt. “We’re all over it Senator. This will not stand,” Hegseth posted.The DEI ban also led to the temporary removal of a web page about baseball and civil rights icon Jackie Robinson’s military service from a Department of Defense website, as well as web pages about a Black Medal of Honor winner and Japanese American service members.The Pentagon said the removals were a mistake.Gulf of AmericaOn his first day in office, Trump issued an executive order, “Restoring Names that Honor American Greatness,” that included renaming the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America.In Alabama, the House of Representatives passed a bill to give the state’s endorsement of Trump’s idea.The House passed the bill by Rep. David Standridge, R-Hayden, by a vote of 72-26, with Republicans voting yes and Democrats voting no.The bill says that beginning Oct. 1, all state and local entities and their employees will be required to use the term Gulf of America “in all newly created maps, documents, educational materials, websites, official communications, and other resources.”It says agencies and employees will update those materials but not if it would impose “an operational or financial burden.”Democrats said the bill was a political gesture that would do nothing to help Alabama.Standridge said the bill was needed to give state agencies guidance on how to proceed after Trump’s executive order.The Senate has not voted on Standridge’s bill.Immigration crackdownA University of Alabama doctoral student from Iran, Alireza Doroudi, was arrested by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents at his Tuscaloosa apartment on March 25.Doroudi was first held at the Pickens County Jail and then transferred to federal custody in Jena, La.The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that Doroudi “posed national security concerns.”On April 17, Judge Maithe González denied bond to Doroudi, saying he failed to meet the burden of showing that he was not a threat to national security.The judge ruled Doroudi was a flight risk due to being in the country with a revoked F-1 visa, no family in the country and what she said were scarce ties to the community.Doroudi’s attorney, David Rozas, said the government put forth no evidence to support the accusation that Doroudi poses a security risk.Rozas said the court’s request for Doroudi to show that he was not a national security threat was an impossible demand to “prove a negative.”Doroudi’s fiancée, Sama Bajgani, told AL.com she is saddened by Trump’s planned speech at Alabama.“I really wish the community understands that this is a very sad time for Tuscaloosa,” she said.
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