As part of the effort, the president instructed the Department of Justice not to renew contracts with private prison operators and signed a presidential memorandum recognizing the role the federal government has played in discriminatory housing policy.
“President Biden is committed to reducing mass incarceration and, at the same time, making our communities more secure,” Susan Rice, who heads the White House’s Domestic Policy Council, told reporters on Tuesday. “It starts with the end of the federal government’s dependence on private prisons.”
However, this request does not apply to other federal agencies that can hire these same operators, such as US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Biden is also instructing the Department of Housing and Urban Development to re-evaluate measures implemented under former President Donald Trump, including making it more difficult for complainants to comply with the legal limit to prove unintentional discrimination, known as the disparate impact rule. The definition adopted under Trump and former HUD secretary Ben Carson would also give defendants more latitude to refute these claims, but a federal court has suspended the rule pending an ongoing legal challenge.
“For a long time, we have allowed a narrow and narrow view of this nation’s promise to rot,” he said. “We believe that America is a zero-sum game in many cases.”
Biden also signed an executive order reaffirming the federal government’s commitment to the sovereignty of tribal governments over its territory and a memo related to increased anti-Asian sentiment during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Trump administration has been accused of racism and xenophobia, especially because of the former president’s tendency to call the coronavirus “China’s virus” in an effort to blame the Chinese government for the pandemic.
“Promoting equity is a critical part of healing and restoring unity in our nation,” said Rice.
The Biden administration says the most recent actions are an extension of other measures the president has taken in the week since he took office to address racial equality, including for black and Latin communities that are among those most affected by the effects of the ongoing pandemic. as the economic ramifications of the restrictions imposed to fight the virus.
“Building a fairer economy is essential if Americans are to compete and prosper in the 21st century,” said Rice.
Biden had already acted to extend moratoriums on evictions and federal foreclosures until at least the end of March, as well as to continue the Department of Education’s freeze on monthly student loan payments until the fall. Both initiatives were initiated by Trump in the early stages of the pandemic.
Biden also dissolved the 1776 Trump Commission, which was created last year to promote “patriotic education” and serve as an ideological counterpoint to Project 1619 of the New York Times magazine, although a report published by the 1776 Commission this month faced considerable criticism for its level of academic rigor and for seeming to be strongly inspired by one of its author’s previous works.
Biden criticized the 1776 Commission as “counterfactual” and counterproductive.
“Unity and healing must begin with understanding and truth, not ignorance and lies,” he said.