Live updates: Biden’s tone, flurry of orders underscore new day for U.S. By Vanessa Arredondo, Dominic Fracassa and Rita Beamish President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris and their new administration got to work in a nation besieged by a raging pandemic, economic calamity and deep political divisions. Biden signed 17 executive orders shortly after his swearing-in, dealing with the pandemic, climate change, immigration and other pressing issues that reflected the dramatic divergence of his priorities from those of the vanquished Trump administration. Latest updates today: 1:56 p.m. Biden immigration bill nixes word “alien”: In a small but symbolic part of President Biden’s proposed sweeping immigration overhaul, the word “alien” will be removed from US immigration laws, replaced by “noncitizen,” CNN reports. “It’s a deliberate step intended to recognize America as “a nation of immigrants,” according to a summary of the bill. The term “illegal alien,” long decried as a dehumanizing slur by immigrant rights advocates, became even more of a lightning rod during the Trump era — with some top federal officials encouraging its use and several states and local governments taking up measures to ban it.