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Washington, United States
US President Joe Biden signed a series of executive orders shortly after being sworn on Wednesday, undoing policies put in place by his Republican predecessor, Donald Trump.
The orders included keeping the United States in the World Health Organization, ending the ban on entries from mostly Muslim-majority countries, bolstering environmental protections and strengthening the fight against Covid-19.
Also see: From trillion package to Paris agreement, here's how Joe Biden plans to tackle climate change
Also among the directives was a halt to construction of the wall on the US-Mexico border, and efforts to expand diversity and equality for minority groups in the federal government.
"Mexico welcomes the end of the construction of the wall, the immigration initiative in favour of DACA and a path to dual citizenship," Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard wrote on Twitter.
México saluda el fin de la construcción del muro, la iniciativa migratoria en favor de DACA y un camino hacia la doble ciudadanÃa.
Como escribió el presidente @lopez_obrador hace unos años al ahora presidente @JoeBiden los puentes abren paso a la cooperación y al entendimiento.
â Marcelo Ebrard C. (@m_ebrard) January 21, 2021
He was referring to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program to regularize the immigration status of young people who arrived illegally as children, which Trump tried to shut down.
Biden's orders were aimed at reversing decisions by his predecessor Donald Trump and setting a clear policy path for Biden's new administration, just hours after he was sworn in as president.
"Some of the executive actions I'm going to be signing today are going to help change the course of the COVID crisis, we're going to combat climate change in a way that we haven't done so far and advance racial equity and support other underserved communities" said Biden. âThese are just all starting pointsâ.
Also read: Pandemic, economic crisis, racial injustice threats to our democracy: Biden
Biden signed a document to begin the process of re-entering the Paris climate accord and issued a sweeping order tackling climate change, including revoking the presidential permit granted to the contentious Keystone XL oil pipeline.
Among a raft of orders addressing immigration, Biden revoked Trump's emergency declaration that helped fund the construction of a border wall and ended a travel ban on some majority-Muslim countries.
The Day One plans were just the start of a flurry of executive actions Biden would take soon after entering office, said his press secretary, Jen Psaki.
"In the coming days and weeks, we will be announcing additional executive actions that confront these challenges and deliver on the president-elect's promises to the American people," Psaki said.
Further actions would include revoking the ban on military service by transgender Americans, and reversing a policy that blocks US funding for programs overseas linked to abortion.
On the economic front, Biden asked the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to extend a moratorium on evictions until the end of March, and the Department of Education to suspend student loan payments until the end of September.