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President-elect Joe Biden will issue a series of executive orders on Wednesday reversing outgoing President Donald Trump’s signature immigration policies, including stopping construction on the border wall.
The Biden-Harris transition team revealed the lengthy list of executive orders early on Wednesday, hours before Biden is due to swear the oath of office as the nation’s 46th president.
In a sweeping reversal of Trump’s approach, the new administration has committed to protecting the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and seek a path to citizenship for those who came to the U.S. as children.
“The president-elect is committed to preserving and fortifying DACA,” the Biden-Harris transition said in a statement.
“Today, he will sign a Presidential Memorandum directing the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Attorney General, to take all appropriate actions under the law to achieve that goal.
“The Presidential Memorandum will also call on Congress to enact legislation providing permanent status and a path to citizenship for people who came to this country as children and have lived, worked, and contributed to our country for many years.”
Biden announced a plan to introduce a major immigration bill on his first day in office on Tuesday. The bill would create an eight-year path to citizenship for 11 million undocumented migrants. A total reversal of the Trump era policy, Biden followed it on Wednesday by announcing construction of the border wall with Mexico would cease.
“Bipartisan majorities in Congress refused in 2019 to fund President Trump’s plans for a massive wall along our southern border, even after he shut down the government over this issue. He then wastefully diverted billions of dollars to that construction,” the Biden-Harris statement said.
This is referring to Trump’s decision to divert $6 billion in military funding to build the border wall. The Supreme Court ruled the president could do so by a five-to-four vote, but his actions drew bipartisan criticism.
“By proclamation, President-elect Biden will today declare an immediate termination of the national emergency declaration that was used as a pretext to justify some of the funding diversions for the wall,” the Biden-Harris statement said.
“The proclamation directs an immediate pause in wall construction projects to allow a close review of the legality of the funding and contracting methods used, and to determine the best way to redirect funds that were diverted by the prior Administration to fund wall construction.”
Biden will also reverse the so-called “Muslim ban.” Along with the border wall, this was a centerpiece of Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. The president-elect’s statement called it “a policy rooted in religious animus and xenophobia.”
“This is an important step in providing relief to individuals and families harmed by this Trump Administration policy that is inconsistent with American values,” the transition team said.
“The Executive Action also provides for the strengthening of screening and vetting for travelers by enhancing information sharing with foreign governments and capacity building with our partners, and directs reviews of other Trump Administration ‘extreme vetting’ practices.”
“Extreme vetting” was a phrase Trump frequently used when discussing his controversial immigration policies. Biden’s day one executive actions appear to be a deliberate repudiation of policies that were central to Trump’s agenda.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
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