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Joe Biden formally reversed a series of executive actions taken by Donald Trump, including a proclamation that blocked many green card candidates from entering the United States.
Trump published the ban last year, saying it was necessary to protect U.S. workers amid high unemployment due to the coronavirus pandemic. Biden rejected that reasoning in a proclamation rescinding the visa ban on Wednesday. The president said it prevented families from meeting in the United States and hurt American companies.
Other actions taken by the president included one that sought to cut funds from several cities that Trump considered “lawless” and “anarchist jurisdictions”, and another forcing federal buildings to be designed in a classic aesthetic.
The reversals occur at a time when the new president seeks to move forward with his own agenda and undo key aspects of his predecessor’s legacy. Since taking office last month, Biden has revoked dozens of Trump’s orders and issued dozens more.
Defenders of immigrants have pressured in recent weeks for him to lift the visa ban, which would expire on March 31. Biden left another ban on most foreign temporary workers.
Curtis Morrison, a California immigration lawyer who represents the people subject to the ban, said Biden will now have to deal with a growing backlog of applications that have been withheld for months while the pandemic has closed most of the state department’s visa processing. . The process could take years, he said.
“It’s an accumulation that Trump created,” said Morrison. “He broke the immigration system.”
The latest revocation list targeted a collection of issues, including some that Trump signed in his last months in office.
Trump published a memo in September that sought to identify municipal governments that allow “anarchy, violence and destruction in American cities”. The memo came after protests against George Floyd’s death by Minneapolis police. The justice department identified New York, Portland, Oregon and Seattle as three cities that could have reduced federal funding.
These cities, in turn, have filed a lawsuit to invalidate the designation and fight the efforts of the Trump administration to retain federal dollars.
Pete Holmes, the Seattle city attorney, welcomed Biden’s revocation, saying he was “happy to have that nonsense erased from the deck.”
Another reversed order included one issued by Trump in his days of decline, which forced federal buildings to return to a more classic style of architecture. The memo adds that architects should look for inspiration in America’s “beloved historic buildings,” such as the White House, the United States Capitol, the Supreme Court, the Treasury Department and the Lincoln Memorial.
Biden also revoked a 2018 order that required agency heads across the government to review welfare programs – such as food stamps, Medicaid and housing allowances – and to reinforce work requirements for certain beneficiaries.