Hemisphere Weekly: Joe Biden becomes the 46th president of the United States

On January 20, President Joe Biden was sworn in by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. as the 46th president of the United States at a heavily protected U.S. Capitol. Also sworn in by Justice Sonia Sotomayor was Vice President Kamala Harris, making her the first U.S. woman, Black, and Asian-American person to hold the post. Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and former Vice President Mike Pence were also in attendance at the ceremony. Former President Donald Trump, who was not in attendance, became the first president to skip the ceremony since 1869.
 
The inauguration ceremony marked the end of a highly tumultuous political transition that culminated in rioters storming the U.S. Capitol. At the inauguration ceremony, President Biden proclaimed that “Democracy has prevailed.” In his address, the president called for unity in this “historic moment of crisis and challenge” while promising to be a president “for all Americans.”
 
President Biden also announced the signing of 15 executive orders, including reversing former President Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement; revoking the permit for the Keystone XL Pipeline; reversing the former administration’s policies on deportation and immigration enforcement; and eliminating multiple travel bans. The President will also issue a memo to showcase the administration’s support for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA) and propose a bill to reform immigration policies in the country, including the “eight-year pathway” for undocumented migrants to apply for citizenship and a $4 billion aid package to El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras to address the root causes of migration. Focusing more on the current COVID-19 pandemic, President Biden plans to enforce a mask and distancing mandate for federal employees nationwide. He has proposed speeding up the vaccine rollout, rejoining the WHO, and enacting a $1.9 trillion stimulus plan. Among his other economic measures, he intends to take immediate action to prevent evictions and foreclosures and end the Trump Administration’s 2017 tax cuts.
 
Prior to the inauguration ceremony, President Biden’s nominee for Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, discussed some of these executive orders, finding common ground with both Republicans and Democrats. Blinken was probed by Sen. Marco Rubio on issues regarding Venezuela and he expressed his support for the Trump administration’s recognition of Juan Guaidó as the democratic leader of Venezuela. Blinken also discussed migration from the Northern Triangle, noting that President Biden’s history of working in the region and his Alliance for Prosperity program will be crucial to addressing the root causes driving migration from the region.