WASHINGTON – President-elect Joe Biden entered the nation’s capital Tuesday, ready to assume power as America reels from the coronavirus pandemic and grave concerns about more violence as he prepares to take the oath of office.

Biden had planned to take a train into Washington ahead of Wednesday’s Inauguration Day, but he scratched that plan in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.

He instead flew into a military base just outside the capital and then motorcaded into Washington – a city that’s been flooded by about 25,000 National Guard troops guarding the Capitol, White House and National Mall that are wrapped in barricades and tall fencing.

Shortly before Biden left for Washington, the U.S. reached another grim milestone in the pandemic, surpassing 400,000 deaths from the virus, according to Johns Hopkins University.

“These are dark times,” Biden told supporters in a sendoff in Delaware before departing for Washington. “But there’s always light.”

Biden plans to issue a series of executive orders on Day One – including reversing President Donald Trump’s effort to leave the Paris climate accord, canceling his travel ban on visitors from several predominantly Muslim countries, and extending pandemic-era limits on evictions and student loan payments.

Trump won’t attend Biden’s inauguration, the first outgoing president to skip the ceremony since Andrew Johnson more than a century and a half ago. Trump plans to leave Washington on Wednesday morning in a grand airbase ceremony.

At his Delaware farewell, Biden paid tribute to his home state. After his remarks, he stopped and chatted with friends and well-wishers in the crowd.

“I’ll always be a proud son of the state of Delaware,” Biden said.

After arriving in Washington, he went to an evening ceremony at the Reflecting Pool near the Lincoln Memorial to honor American lives lost to COVID-19. He was joined by Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.

Out of the starting gate, Biden and his team are intent on moving quickly to speed up the distribution of vaccinations to Americans and pass his $1.9 trillion virus relief package, which includes quick payments to many people and an increase in the minimum wage to $15 an hour.

Biden also plans to unveil a sweeping immigration bill on the first day of his administration, hoping to provide an eight-year path to citizenship for an estimated 11 million people living illegally in the U.S.

That would be a major reversal from the Trump administration’s tight immigration policies.

Some leading Republicans have already balked at Biden’s immigration plan.

“There are many issues I think we can work cooperatively with President-elect Biden, but a blanket amnesty for people who are here unlawfully isn’t going to be one of them,” said Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla.

Biden’s legislative ambitions could be tempered by the hard truth he faces on Capitol Hill, where Democrats hold narrow majorities in both the Senate and House.

His hopes to press forward with an avalanche of legislation in his first 100 days could also be slowed by an expected impeachment trial of Trump.