Biden plans to lift Muslim ban on first day in office
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WASHINGTON: Repealing Donald Trump’s travel ban on some Muslim majority nations will be one of the four executive orders that President-elect Joe Biden plans to issue on his first day in the White House, his campaign managers say.
The executive actions would also include rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement, reinstating the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals programme and rejoining the World Health Organisation, the campaign told Fox News on Monday night.
On Saturday, Fox News and several other US media outlets projected Biden as the winner of the 2020 presidential election.
As of Tuesday, the Trump campaign continues to reject the results and has filed lawsuits in various states, challenging the ballots and the counting process.
On Monday night, a popular aggregator of political data, Real Clear Politics (RPC), withdrew Biden’s president-elect status after stripping him of Pennsylvania’s 20 electoral votes.
On Tuesday, a top official of the US Justice Department resigned after Attorney General William Barr allowed federal prosecutors to probe alleged election irregularities. The official, Richard Pilger, would have overseen such investigations. He said he was resigning in response to Mr Barr’s order. Election irregularities, Mr Piler said, should be handled by individual states, not the federal government.
During his election campaign, Biden had promised to undo a variety of policies pursued by President Trump. While addressing a Muslim voters’ club in July, Biden described the Muslim ban as unjust and pledged to rescind it on his first day in office.
Fox News noted that Biden’s decision to re-enter the WHO “reflected a broader effort to combat the coronavirus upon taking office.” Democrats have decried Trump’s decision to exit the transnational organisation in the middle of a pandemic.
On Monday, Biden formed a coronavirus advisory board dominated by scientists and doctors.
Since his projection as the president-elect, the Biden campaign has also asked the Trump administration to the process of transition, which must be completed before the Jan 20 inauguration of the new president.
But the Trump’s administration’s refusal to recognise Biden as the president-elect have caused speculations that the transition may not complete before the inauguration.
RCP’s decision to reverse Biden’s win may also contribute to delaying the transition process. RCP reversed Biden’s victory in Pennsylvania bringing his electoral votes to 259, 11 short of the required 270 votes.
RCP, which is based in Chicago, claims to be an independent, non-partisan political news media company, but often sympathizes with the Republicans.
Published in Dawn, November 11th, 2020
