Here Are All the Executive Actions From President Joe Biden’s First Few Days in Office

Date Published: January 21, 2021

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris just took the oath of office yesterday, and their administration is already taking steps towards climate action, immigration reform, COVID-19 response, and more. Here are all of the executive orders, memorandums, and proclamations that have come from the Biden administration so far.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• COVID-19
• Environment
• Immigration
• Other Reversals
• What You Can Do

COVID-19

• The US is rejoining the World Health Organization (WHO), and Dr. Anthony Fauci will head up the US delegation at WHO meetings.
• Biden’s very first executive order was a “100 Day Masking Challenge” urging Americans to wear face masks and requiring masks and physical distancing on federal property. He’s also expected to sign an order mandating masks on planes, trains, ships and intercity buses.
• Through another executive order, Biden is restructuring the federal government’s COVID response efforts, including the creation of a new COVID-19 Response Coordinator position in his Cabinet.
• Biden is also extending the federal moratorium on evictions and foreclosures through March 2021, as well as continuing to pause federal student loan payments through September 2021.

Environment

• The US will officially rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement, joining other world leaders in a commitment to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius by curbing greenhouse gas emissions.
• Biden revoked a presidential permit for the Keystone XL pipeline over environmental concerns, suspending the project indefinitely.
• The Biden administration announced plans to halt a program that leased land for oil and gas drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which includes sacred ancestral lands of the Indigenous Gwich’in people.
• Biden is also ordering a review of federal fuel efficiency and vehicle emission standards previously rolled back by the Trump administration.

Immigration

• Biden signed an executive order deprioritizing arrests of undocumented immigrants with no criminal convictions. It reverses an executive order from former President Trump that heavily targeted undocumented immigrants through workplace raids and other widespread operations.
• The Department of Homeland security announced a 100-day pause on deportations while the Biden administrations reviews its immigration priorities and policies amid the pandemic.
• Through a presidential memorandum, Biden is calling for the preservation of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, with plans to propose a path to citizenship for recipients.
• Biden has ordered the Defense Department to suspend construction of the border wall along the US-Mexico border.
• Biden reversed another Trump-era executive order that sought to exclude undocumented immigrants from the 2020 census count. Under Biden’s order, all US residents -- documented or not -- will be counted in state population numbers.

Other Reversals

• Biden is putting an end to the Trump administration’s “Muslim ban” that restricted travelers from majority-Muslim countries. He also ordered expedited visa processing for applicants who were impacted by the ban.
• The Biden administration has disbanded the 1776 Commission and removed the 1776 Report from the White House website. The commission was a recent project of the Trump administration to promote “patriotic education” that warped and erased the complicated racial history of the US (and had no professional historians on its panel).
• Biden signed an executive order directing federal agencies to enforce federal laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. The order implements the Supreme Court’s ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (and other federal laws regarding sex discrimination) includes protection against discrimination for LGBTQ+ individuals.
• To cover all their bases, Biden’s new chief of staff has announced a freeze of all pending rule changes from the Trump administration across federal agencies and departments until they’re reviewed by the new administration.

What You Can Do

Elected leaders have a duty to shape the nation in ways consistent with the needs of their constituents, and the process doesn’t stop once they’re voted in. Here are ways you can continue to hold those in power accountable.

1. Vote in every election you’re eligible for. That includes local elections and the upcoming 2022 midterm elections. Register to vote if you haven’t already (and if you’ll be 18 by the election, find out if you’re eligible to pre-register).

2. Stay up to date on their actions. Make sure your newly elected leaders are following up on the promises they made on the campaign trail, or taking on new directions where necessary. Subscribe to DoSomething’s weekly current events newsletter The Breakdown for headlines and actions straight to your inbox.

3. Contact your representatives. You can email or call them at any time about the issues you want them to address. Here’s a directory to find contact info for local, state, and federal officials.

4. Make your voice heard. Beyond directly contacting your reps, you can also express your thoughts through protest, petitions, public forums, and more.