By Alyssa Aquino

Law360 (January 20, 2021, 10:59 AM EST ) President Joe Biden signed a number of executive orders and directives within hours of taking office on Wednesday, including lifting travel restrictions against individuals from predominantly Muslim countries and halting construction of the U.S-Mexico border wall.

The policies, which were detailed alongside other "Day One" policies tackling racial justice, environmental and public health issues, roll back the "gravest damages" of the outgoing Trump administration and provide immediate relief for families struggling amid several "converging crises," Biden's office said in a statement released in the final hours of U.S. President Donald Trump's presidency.

The office also released details on an immigration bill Biden will send to Congress, which includes proposals for a pathway for citizenship for undocumented immigrants, curbs on the presidential authority Trump invoked to set the travel ban and an increase in the number of family-based green cards.

Here are six immigration-related executive actions the new president took after his swearing in:

The Travel Ban

One of Biden's first executive orders repealed Trump's travel restrictions against individuals from certain Muslim-majority countries, referring to the restrictions as a stain on the national conscience that ultimately undermined U.S. security.

"They have jeopardized our global network of alliances and partnerships and are a moral blight that dulled the power of our example the world over," the order said. "And they have separated loved ones, inflicting pain that will ripple for years to come. They are just plain wrong."

The order further instructs the U.S. Department of State to restart visa processing for targeted countries and to develop a proposal to address individuals whose visa applications were rejected under the travel ban. The proposal must be returned to Biden within 45 days, according to the order.

The U.S. Secretaries of State and Homeland Security must also provide a report detailing the screening and vetting procedures the Trump administration enacted in light of the travel ban. In an October report, the International Refugee Assistance Project described Trump's vetting practices as a quiet attack on the U.S. refugee program.

The report, which is due within 120 days, must also include a review of foreign governments' information-sharing practices, according to the order.

Throughout the campaign trail, Biden vowed to lift the travel ban, which he and other critics deemed the "Muslim ban." Trump issued the first ban a week after he entered the White House. The U.S. Supreme Court blocked the first and second versions of the ban, before ultimately clearing Trump's third attempt, which set visa restrictions on foreign citizens from eight countries — Chad, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Syria, Venezuela, Yemen and Somalia — but carved out a waiver process.

The U.S.-Mexico Border Wall

Through a presidential proclamation, Biden declared an immediate end to the national emergency Trump declared to divert already-appropriated defense funding to border wall construction activities.

The proclamation also places an immediate freeze on the border wall while Biden's administration reviews the "legality of the funding and contracting methods used" and determines how to redirect the diverted funds, according to the new president's transition team.

Trump's border wall was a key part of his campaign platform. Though Trump claimed the wall would bolster national security, he failed to convince Democratic lawmakers who spurned his request for billions in border wall construction.

Following Congress' reproach, Trump declared a national emergency permitting him to send over $8 billion of defense funding to the southern border. That declaration has since been challenged in court, with the Supreme Court agreeing to review the case. The justices have refused to halt construction while they hear the suit.

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals

Biden signed a presidential memorandum directing the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security to take "all appropriate actions under the law" to preserve Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, which provides deportation relief and work authorization to undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. at a young age.

"The president-elect is committed to preserving and fortifying DACA," Biden's transition team said.

Biden also sent a bill to Congress that calls on lawmakers to allow the undocumented immigrants, colloquially known as Dreamers, to be eligible for green cards immediately.

As of June 2020, more than 645,000 people are DACA recipients, according to data available from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Trump rescinded DACA in September 2017, a decision that the Supreme Court deemed unlawfully arbitrary and capricious in a 2020 ruling.

However, Biden's memorandum comes as DACA continues to face a legal challenge from a coalition of states, led by Texas, which contend that then-President Barack Obama overstepped when he implemented the program in 2012.

Undocumented Immigrants and the Census

Yet another executive order revoked Trump's directive to exclude undocumented immigrants from the 2020 census, which is used to allocate federal resources and draw congressional districts.

"At no point since our Nation's Founding has a person's immigration status alone served as a basis for excluding that person from the total population count used in apportionment," Biden said.

Biden's order also called on the U.S. Secretary of Commerce to "take all necessary steps" to ensure that the population count is accurate.

Over the past couple months, civil rights organizations, cities and Native American tribes have taken the U.S. Department of Commerce to court over its handling over the 2020 census. They claim that the federal government illegally rushed the count by walking back on a census plan taking into account the national health emergency.

Enforcement of Immigration Policy

Biden also rescinded Trump's January 2017 executive order broadening the categories of undocumented immigration prioritized for removal.

"My administration will reset the policies and practices for enforcing civil immigration laws," Biden said in the brief order.

Protections for Liberian Immigrants

Biden extended deportation protections and work permits for Liberians in the U.S. until June 30, 2022.

The policy, laid out in a presidential memorandum, will direct the head of Homeland Security to ensure the timely processing of Liberians' residency applications.

--Additional reporting by Jennifer Doherty. Editing by Alyssa Miller.

Update: This story has been updated to provide more details on the orders concerning the travel ban, the decennial census and immigration enforcement priorities.

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