WASHINGTON – In his first hours as president of the United States, Joe Biden attacked the political legacy of his predecessor, Donald Trump, signing a series of decrees to overturn several of his measures on immigration, climate change and management of the pandemic.
In the first series of executive orders, Biden ordered the mandatory use of a mask and maintain social distancing in all federal buildings in the country, return to the Paris Agreement and asked federal agencies to prioritize racial fairness and review the policies that reinforce systematic racism.
On immigration, Biden is expected to end the construction of the border wall -one of the main flags of the Trump administration- on Wednesday, revoke the order of the previous administration that he sought exclude the undocumented from the Census and remove the travel ban from some Muslim-majority countries.
Biden is also expected to reinstate the United States into the World Health Organization (WHO) and revoke approval of the Keystone XL pipeline.
The 15 decrees attempt to rewind four years of federal policy at high speed. Only two recent presidents signed decrees on their first day in the Oval Office, and one in each case. But Biden, facing the debilitating coronavirus pandemic, seeks to display a sense of urgency and competence that he says his predecessor lacked.
Biden intends to order a review of all Trump regulations and decrees deemed harmful to the environment or public health.
It will also require federal employees to make an ethical commitment to uphold the independence of the Department of Justice.
It will be released Wednesday after Biden is sworn in as president.
MORE MEASURES IN THE NEXT DAYS
These measures will be followed by dozens more in the next 10 days, the advisers pointed out, in an attempt by Biden to redirect the country without having to go through a Senate that Democrats control by a narrow margin.
Among the first decrees, the absence of immediate measures to return to the Iran nuclear agreement, which Trump abandoned and which Biden promised to re-implement, stands out.
Jen Psaki, the next White House press secretary, pointed out that although they are not included in her first decrees, in the coming days the Pentagon’s veto on transgender soldiers and the so-called Mexico City policy, which prohibits the United States to fund international organizations that perform or counsel women about abortion.
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