Summary: Issued on January 20, 2025, Proclamation 10888 instructs the Secretary of State and the Attorney General to take all appropriate action to “repel, repatriate, or remove any alien engaged in the invasion across the southern border of the United States.” The recission of the Sensitive Locations policy [PDF] is not explicitly part of this proclamation, but it allows immigration enforcement actions to occur or focus on sensitive locations such as schools, hospitals, and places of worship.

Impact: This will impact audiologists and speech-language pathologists (SLPs) who work in sensitive locations such as health care facilities or schools, requiring clinicians to know their rights and responsibilities under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) as it pertains to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at their places of employment. Current American citizens, or those who are documented, have no duty to report immigration status of clients/patients/students to authorities.

Currently, the U.S. Department of Education has not provided guidance or interpretation of this proclamation and how to address these types of inquiries in schools. All children have the right to a free and appropriate public education regardless of immigration status, as the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed in 1982 in Plyler v. Doe.

In compliance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), audiologists, SLPs, other providers working in schools should not disclose confidential student information or share it with unauthorized personnel. If you are questioned by a person who identifies as an ICE agent or other law enforcement personnel, you should defer to guidance from your school administrator and/or guidance from your state education agency.

If you are a clinician in a health care setting, you should also consider seeking guidance directly from your facility regarding compliance with local, state, and federal laws, including patient privacy laws and regulations as well as facility-specific policies.

Status: On January 29, 2025, this Proclamation was published in the Federal Register [PDF] and is in effect.

Summary: Executive Order 14110 [PDF], issued in October 2023 by a previous Administration, identified eight guiding principles and priorities on the use of artificial intelligence (AI):

1. Ensure safety and security (data privacy, reliability, cybersecurity, etc.).
2. Promote responsible innovation, competition, and collaboration (intellectual property, education and training, research, anti-trust).
3. Support American workers (workforce, job training, equitable access to opportunities that AI creates).
4. Advance equity and civil rights (ensure AI is not used to disadvantage or promulgate existing bias).
5. Protect consumers (safeguards against fraud, unintended bias, discrimination, infringements on privacy, and other harms from AI).
6. Ensure privacy and civil liberties (ensure that the collection, use, and retention of data is lawful, secure, and protects privacy and confidentiality).
7. Make the Federal government workforce AI-ready (workforce receives adequate training to understand the benefits, risks, and limitations of AI).
8. Collaborate on AI policy leadership (partner with international allies to develop a framework to manage AI's risks and potential).

Impact: The recission of Executive Order 14110 could make it more difficult for providers and advocates to push back against or appeal prior authorization decisions made using algorithms or AI. There is also the potential that existing biases could be amplified by using limited biased data to train generative and predictive AI. Without standards for AI consumer protections, audiologists and SLPs will have to create their own standards and guidance as they choose tools to use in clinical practice and ensure they understand their professional liability in using AI products, especially as it applies to Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requirements on protected health information.

Status: On January 28, 2025, the new Administration issued Executive Order 14148, which was published in the Federal Register [PDF]; thereby rescinding all protections previously established in Executive Order 14110.

Summary: This executive action requires a pause on communication and certain operations in U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) agencies, such as National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). All communications have abruptly been paused and there is limited information regarding a cease to the pause across agencies. Any exceptions to the pause should be approved by a political appointee

Impact: NIH serves as the largest research funding agency in the U.S. The National Institute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), which is a part of NIH, conducts research in normal and disordered process of hearing, balance, voice, speech and language. NIDCD provides research funding and grants to universities and many other research institutions. A pause in communication and certain operations may have a significant impact on research in communication disorders and sciences by freezing new grants/delaying approved grants, delaying the current research processes and release of outcomes, limiting training opportunities for early career researchers, and negatively impacting the income of individuals who are directly employed or receive a salary through these grants. A funding pause will also affect university students who receive tuition coverage and salaries through these research grants (e.g., students who work as research assistants). This will also impact clinical practices and patient care as a ripple effect, especially when patients are under investigational interventions

Status: This was an executive action, not an executive order, and has not been published in the Federal Register. Executive actions, unlike executive orders, are not required to be published and do not carry as much weight and authority as executive orders.

Summary: This executive action states that federal agencies “must temporarily pause all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance.” It will not affect Social Security or Medicare benefits, nor does it include “assistance provided directly to individuals.” The freeze could affect billions of dollars in grants supporting health centers, hospitals, universities, and research institutions. Although Medicare is exempt, there are 443 HHS programs impacted by the freeze, including:

• Medicaid
• Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI)
• Autism and other developmental disabilities surveillance, research, and prevention
• The Healthy Brain Initiative
• Special programs for the aging
• State Health Insurance Assistance Programs
• National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR)
• TBI awards for states
• Developmental disabilities projects
• Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
• Birth defects and developmental disabilities prevention and research
• Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP)
• State grants for implementation and expansion of Medicaid/CHIP
• Health Equity Data Access Program
• Health professions student loans
• Autism collaboration, accountability, research, education, and support
• NIH research related to deafness and communication disorders, etc.

Impact: This executive action will result in temporary halting funds disbursed to many programs that fund education, research, evaluation, treatment, screening, prevention, and surveillance in communication sciences and disorders. Additional guidance from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) states this does not impact individual student loans. Additional clarification is still needed.

Status: This was an executive action, not an executive order, and has not been published in the Federal Register. Executive actions, unlike executive orders, are not required to be published and do not carry as much weight and authority as executive orders.