The Biden administration is trying to secure legacies on immigration and the death penalty while abandoning other proposals

The Biden administration is using the final days of its term in office to make a final statement in advance of the new Trump in the White House.

She announced Friday that she would forgive an additional $4.28 billion in student debt for 54,900 borrowers who wanted to pursue careers in public service. This brings Biden’s total debt relief to around $180 billion, the largest debt relief of any president in US history.

At the same time, the administration said it would withdraw further forgiveness proposals from the U.S. Department of Education, citing “uncertainty over implementation” given Trump’s impending inauguration.

“The Department currently intends to use its limited operational resources to help at-risk borrowers successfully return to repayment,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona wrote in official communications.

The Education Department also announced that starting in 2023, it would abandon a proposed rule that would penalize schools that prevent transgender athletes from participating in women’s sports.

Twenty-three states have such policies, and the Biden administration has already faced legal challenges over discrimination policies after declaring that Title IX’s ban on sex discrimination in federally funded educational institutions constitutes disparate treatment gender identity, sexual orientation or pregnancy and related conditions.

Despite these cancellations, Biden is also reportedly considering some final, high-profile moves on campaign priorities.

The president, the first to openly oppose the death penalty, is reportedly considering commuting the sentences of most or all 40 people on federal death row to life in prison.

Attorney General Merrick Garland has reportedly recommended such a move for most detainees, except for those involved in terror and hate attacks, including Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Charleston church shooter Dylann Roof The Wall Street Journal.

Rep. Ayanna Pressley recounted The Independent There is “absolutely” a chance Biden will make the changes.

“We remain in constant communication with the White House and will continue to push until the end,” she said.

The Biden administration has paused federal executions and the Justice Department has begun a review of death penalty guidelines, but the Justice Department and the military have continued to call for death sentences in some cases, including for the 9/11 conspirators at Guantanamo.

The Trump administration is expected to resume federal killings.

There were 13 executions during Trump’s last term in office, more than four times as many federal executions as in the previous 50 years.

Biden is also considering expanding temporary protective status for migrants in the U.S. from unstable countries, including Haiti, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua.

There are currently an estimated 1 million TPS beneficiaries in the United States from 17 countries.

The program became a target of the Trump-Vance campaign, which took aim at unfounded, racist rumors that Haitian migrants in Ohio, many of them on TPS, were eating neighborhood pets.

While Biden may increase protections for some migrants, new data shows Biden deported more migrants in fiscal year 2024 than at any time since 2014, when he served in the Obama administration.

Eric Garcia contributed to this story.