Donald Trump made quite the legacy for himself in the 4 years he occupied the oval office. Whether his plethora of executive orders improved the state of America is up for debate but new President, Mr. Joe Biden seems to be determined to undo the effects of his predecessor. In the first few hours after his inauguration, President Biden signed 17 new executive orders. These are the top 10 orders that will affect America in the long-run. 

• Stopped the funding for Trump’s border wall.

When Donald Trump signed Executive Order 13767, it was classified within the document as “critically important to the national security of the United States”. Under that pretense, he was allowed to divert billions of federal dollars to the building of the wall. It is literally called the “Trump wall” and lined the southern border, or the border around Mexico. The halt of construction is to review the legality of using government funding to continue building the border wall. 

• Ended the Muslim ban. 

Trump memorably blocked travel from predominately Muslim and African countries. Biden has reversed this by restart visa processing to individuals from those countries. Anyone who was affected by the ban will be addressed 

• Finally. Climate change. 

With a letter to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the United States will officially rejoin the Paris climate accord in the third week of February and take steps toward// FINISH

• Census

Non-citizens will now be included in the census count. 

• Ended 1776 Commission on racial bias. 

The Trump Administration released a report on January 18th that historians have distorted what slavery was like in the U.S., and attempted to limit the ability of institutions, federal agencies, and other companies to make inclusion and diversity training a necessary expenditure. Biden ended this commission and deemed the head of Domestic Policy Council, Susan E. Rice, in charge of an effort to encourage all federal agencies to put “rooting out systematic racism” at the top of their priority list. 

• Bolsters the importance of Civil Rights.

A separate order reinforces the Civil Rights Act of 1964, an act largely credited to the works of the late civil rights activist, Martin Luther King Jr.. The Act establishes the expectation that the government will not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. This is a direct compensation for many of the actions of the Trump Administration.

• DACA

DACA is known as a program for the dreamers, and it is a program Trump sought to end for years. The program allows the immigrants brought here as children to get on a path to citizenship without fear of being deported. With an executive order, President Biden provides a cushion for the program, while also providing permanent documentation and a secured path to citizenship to all individuals under DACA.

• Extend the Mortgage Moratorium. 

In response to the economic decline during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Biden Administration is asking Housing and Urban Development agencies to excuse payments and to not evict those who have lost their jobs due to the pandemic. This will relieve thousands of families and give them time to get back on their feet. 

• Paused Federal Student Loan payments. 

President Biden has paused all student loan payments through the end of September, while progressives and other Democrats within the house are urging him to relieve each student of up to 50,000 dollars of student loan debt.

• Restore Trust

Arguably the most detrimental, but indirect accomplishment of the Trump Administration was devaluing the trust American citizens have in its government. In response to this damage, the President has established ethics rules which he will require every appointee within the Executive Branch to sign a pledge to. 

• COVID-19

Currently, Biden is working with Congress to allocate more money to stimulus-packages. While the President can’t mandate masks for the entire country, they can encourage the states to do so in their place, which is what Biden is doing with his ‘100 Days Masking Challenge’. Even though he cannot enforce mask-wearing throughout the country, his administration is enforcing mask-wearing for anyone on federal property (post-offices, national parks, planes). 

• Re-joining the WHO

With the US’s withdrawal from the World Health Organization by former President Trump, the WHO lost its main source of funding. Thus, President Biden set to reversing the actions of his predecessor by signing us back with the organization. 

President Joe Biden will pause any new regulation established by the Trump Administration with the intention of reviewing each, individually, and then evaluating which he sees fit for the country’s social, economic, and political recovery. This is the dawn of a new age.