President Joe Biden on Tuesday ordered the Department of Justice to finish its reliance on non-public prisons and acknowledge the central function authorities has performed in implementing discriminatory housing insurance policies.
In remarks earlier than signing the orders, Biden stated the US authorities wants to vary “its whole approach” on the problem of racial fairness. He added that the nation is much less affluent and safe due to the scourge of systemic racism.
“We must change now,” the president stated. “I know it’s going to take time, but I know we can do it. And I firmly believe the nation is ready to change. But government has to change as well.”
Biden rose to the presidency throughout a yr of intense depending on institutional racism within the US. The strikes introduced Tuesday replicate his efforts to comply with by way of with marketing campaign pledges to fight racial injustice.
Beyond calling on the Justice Department to curb the usage of non-public prisons and deal with housing discrimination, the brand new orders will recommit the federal authorities to respect tribal sovereignty and disavow discrimination in opposition to the Asian American and Pacific Islander neighborhood over the coronavirus pandemic.
Biden directed the Department of Housing and Urban Development in a memorandum to take steps to advertise equitable housing coverage. The memorandum requires HUD to look at the results of Trump regulatory actions that will have undermined truthful housing insurance policies and legal guidelines.
Months earlier than the November election, the Trump administration rolled again an Obama-era rule that required communities that wished to obtain HUD funding to doc and report patterns of racial bias.
The order to finish the reliance on privately-run prisons directs the lawyer common to not renew Justice Department contracts with privately operated prison detention services. The transfer will successfully revert the Justice Department to the identical posture it held on the finish of the Obama administration.
“This is a first step to stop corporations from profiting off of incarceration,” Biden stated.
The greater than 14,000 federal inmates housed at privately-managed services signify a fraction of the almost 152,000 federal inmates at present incarcerated.
The federal Bureau of Prisons had already opted to not renew some non-public jail contracts in current months because the variety of inmates dwindled and 1000’s had been launched to residence confinement due to the coronavirus pandemic.
GEO Group, a personal firm that operates federal prisons, referred to as the Biden order “a solution in search of a problem. ”
“Given the steps the BOP had already announced, today’s Executive Order merely represents a political statement, which could carry serious negative unintended consequences, including the loss of hundreds of jobs and negative economic impact for the communities where our facilities are located, which are already struggling economically due to the COVID pandemic,” a GEO Group spokesperson stated in an announcement.
David Fathi, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s National Prison Project, famous that the order doesn’t finish the federal authorities’s reliance on privately-run immigration detention facilities.
“The order signed today is an important first step toward acknowledging the harm that has been caused and taking actions to repair it, but President Biden has an obligation to do more, especially given his history and promises,” Fathi stated.
Rashad Robinson, president of the nationwide racial justice group Color of Change, expressed disappointment that policing was not addressed within the government motion.
“President Biden’s executive orders to not renew contracts with for-profit prisons and to investigate housing discrimination wrought by Trump administration policies provide important steps forward, but do not go far enough,” stated Robinson, who famous that he had hoped Biden would have moved to reinstate an Obama-era coverage barring the switch of navy gear to native police departments.
The memorandum highlighting xenophobia in opposition to Asian Americans is largely a response to what White House officers say was offensive and harmful rhetoric from the Trump administration. Trump, all through the pandemic, repeatedly used xenophobic language in public feedback when referring to the coronavirus.
This memorandum will direct Health and Human Services officers to contemplate issuing steering describing greatest practices to advance cultural competency and sensitivity towards Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders within the federal authorities’s COVID-19 response. It additionally directs the Department of Justice to companion with AAPI communities to forestall hate crimes and harassment.
The newest government actions come after Biden signed an order Monday reversing a Trump-era Pentagon coverage that largely barred transgender folks from serving within the navy. Last week, he signed an order reversing Trump’s ban on vacationers from a number of predominantly Muslim and African nations.
Biden final week additionally directed legislation enforcement and intelligence officers in his administration to check the specter of home violent extremism within the United States, an endeavor launched weeks after a mob of insurgents loyal to Trump, together with some linked to white supremacist teams, stormed the US. Capitol.
White House home coverage adviser Susan Rice stated Biden sees addressing fairness points as additionally good for the nation’s backside line. She cited a Citigroup examine from final yr that US gross home product misplaced $16 trillion during the last 20 years because of discriminatory practices in a spread of areas, together with in training and entry to enterprise loans. The similar examine finds the US economic system could be boosted by $5 trillion over the following 5 years if it addressed problems with discrimination in areas equivalent to training and entry to enterprise loans.
“Building a more equitable economy is essential if Americans are going to compete and thrive in the 21st century,” Rice added.
Biden’s victory over Trump in a number of battleground states, together with Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, was fueled by sturdy Black voter turnout.
Throughout his marketing campaign and transition, Biden promised that his administration would hold problems with fairness — in addition to local weather change, one other problem he views as an existential disaster — within the shaping of all coverage issues.
Biden, who adopted by way of on early promise to choose a lady to function vice chairman, has additionally sought to highlight the variety of his Cabinet choices.
On Monday, the Senate confirmed Biden’s choose for treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, who’s the primary girl to steer the division. Last week, the Senate confirmed Lloyd Austin because the nation’s first Black protection secretary.
