President Joe Biden calls for ‘unity’ during inaugural address
Joe Biden sworn in as 46th president during his inauguration ceremony in front of the U.S. Capitol.
President Biden on Wednesday will issue a slew of executive orders related to immigration, reversing some of the most controversial of former President Donald Trump’s immigration policies -- a sign of Biden’s early focus on immigration in his first days in office.
Biden will sign an order putting an end to what he describes as "the Muslim ban" -- which refers to the travel bans placed on predominantly Muslim and African countries due to national security concerns.
The 2017 list, which included countries such as Iran, Yemen, Somalia and Syria, saw multiple revisions -- including the addition of Venezuela and North Korea -- and was expanded in 2020 to include a number of African countries. The initial 2017 ban saw protests at airports when it was implemented in the early days of the Trump administration.
The Biden transition team said the order would restart visa processing and to "swiftly develop a proposal to restore fairness and remedy the harms caused by the bans, especially for individuals stuck in the waiver process and those who had immigrant visas denied."
Separately, Biden is ending construction of the wall at the southern border -- one of Trump’s signature policies, which has seen 450 miles of wall built since 2017. Biden has promised to stop wall construction, even though Trump officials said that an additional 350 miles is funded.
The order directs "an immediate pause" on projects to allow what the Biden team calls a "close review" of the legality of the funding for the wall, and how to redirect funds that were put to the wall by the Trump administration.
Moving away from Trump policies and onto Obama-era policies, Biden will be signing an order strengthening the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that grants protection from deportation for illegal immigrants brought to the country as children. Trump had attempted to reverse the order but was rebuffed by the Supreme Court.
Biden’s will sign a memorandum directing the DHS secretary -- which will be Alejandro Mayorkas if he is confirmed by the Senate -- to take "all appropriate actions under the law" to preserving the program.
The memo will call on Congress to enact legislation to give permanent status and a path to citizenship for DACA recipients.
Other orders include one to revoke the Trump administration’s plan to exclude non-citizens from the census and the apportionment of congressional seats, and another to extend the Deferred Enforced Departure designation for Liberians in the country until June 2022.
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Biden will also sign an executive order revoking Trump’s previous order that directed aggressive immigration enforcement. The Biden team said that the move will allow for the Department of Homeland Security and other agencies to set "civil immigration enforcement policies that best protect the American people" and that are "in line with our values and priorities."
"The Biden administration is going to have a very different approach to regional migration," incoming White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said, adding that there will be a "special emphasis" to address the "root causes of migration in the region."
Fox News' Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
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