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U.S. President Joe Biden has reversed an order that designates cities like Portland and Seattle as "anarchist" havens, which blocked them from receiving federal funds.
Biden on Wednesday formally revoked a series of presidential orders by former president Trump, including one that sought to cut funding from several United States cities that his predecessor declared “anarchist” jurisdictions.
Since assuming over a month ago, Biden has revoked dozens of executive orders by Trump and issued dozens more of his own, seeking to target quintessential aspects of Trump’s legacy and promulgate aspects of his own agenda without passing through Congress.
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The latest series of revocations targeted numerous issues, including many Trump signed in his last months in power.
Trump issued the memorandum in September that sought to target local governments that permit "anarchy, violence, and destruction in American cities" during his re-election campaign, based heavily on "law and order" discourse.
The memorandum followed protests during anti-police and anti-racism protests over George Floyd's murder by Minneapolis police officers.
The US Department of Justice identified new York City, Seattle, and Portland, Oregon as three cities that could potentially have federal funding slashed.
Pres. Biden has reversed Trump’s designation of NYC, Seattle, and Portland as ‘anarchist jurisdictions’ https://t.co/i9xZOC5eeC
— NowThis (@nowthisnews) February 25, 2021
Those cities, in turn, filed a collective lawsuit to invalidate the designation and resist the Trump administration's efforts to withhold federal dollars.
The three cities, especially Portland, featured consistent protests that sometimes turned violent, and the Trump administration was also criticized for sending troops to "kidnap" protesters.
Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan, who clashed with Trump online, tweeted that her city "no longer has to face the insanity of a President who governs by Twitter or political threats. Instead of attempting to withhold all federal funding from Seattle, [Biden] has proposed support for cities to help our residents and small businesses."
Also annulled was an order Trump issued in the final days of his presidency, dubbed "Ensuring Democratic Accountability in Agency Rulemaking," which calls for limits on federal agency employees' ability to make regulatory decisions.
Biden similarly rescinded an order that called for the heads of agency across the U.S. government to strengthen work requirements for certain recipients of welfare programs such as food stamps, Medicaid, and housing aid, as well as one that blocked many green card applicants from entering the U.S.
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