President Donald Trump is preparing to sign an executive order on Monday targeting individuals who desecrate the American flag, including those who burn it, by requiring they face prosecution, Fox News Digital has learned.
According to a fact sheet provided to Fox News Digital, the order states: “The American flag is the most sacred and cherished symbol of the United States of America, and desecrating it is uniquely and inherently offensive and provocative. It is a statement of contempt and hostility toward our Nation, and an act used by groups of foreign nationals calculated to intimidate and threaten violence against Americans.”
The order directs the attorney general to prosecute cases involving flag desecration and pursue litigation to clarify how the First Amendment applies to such acts. It also instructs Attorney General Pam Bondi to refer cases that violate state and local laws to the proper authorities.
The move comes after a series of high-profile incidents where protesters burned or defaced the American flag, particularly during anti-Israel demonstrations in U.S. cities and on college campuses. Some acts also occurred during Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations under Trump’s leadership.
The order goes further by instructing the attorney general and the secretary of homeland security to deny or revoke visas, immigration permits, and benefits for non-citizens found to have desecrated the American flag, when permitted under the law.
In recent years, flag burnings have become flashpoints in political protests. Demonstrators torched the American flag outside the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August 2024, in Washington, D.C., during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s congressional address in July 2024, and in New York City’s Washington Square Park during Independence Day protests that same year.
More recently, anti-ICE protesters in Los Angeles were seen waving Mexican flags and burning the American flag in June during federal immigration raids. One protester declared through a bullhorn: “This is not just a gesture, this is something we need to make real. We need to take down this empire once and for all,” the New York Post reported. Another demonstrator spit on the flag as it burned.
Public opposition to the flag and the national anthem has a longer history, dating back to Colin Kaepernick’s 2016 decision to kneel during “The Star-Spangled Banner,” which grew into a nationwide movement in 2020 amid Black Lives Matter protests.
Trump’s forthcoming executive order is part of a broader series of actions he has taken to emphasize patriotism. Earlier this year, he prohibited State Department offices and embassies from flying any flag other than the American flag. In June, he personally funded the installation of two 88-foot-tall American flags on either side of the White House.
“President Trump personally paid to install two big, beautiful American flags to wave proudly over the White House for years to come. This is just one of many projects President Trump selflessly paid for to make the White House even more patriotic and beautiful,” White House spokesperson Davis Ingle told Fox News Digital in July.
