As part of measures taken to protect the country from the health and economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic, President Donald Trump has disclosed plan to temporarily suspend immigration to the United States.
While disclosing on his Twitter handle on Tuesday April 21, 2020, Trump said, “In light of the attack from the Invisible enemy, as well as the need to protect the jobs of our Great American citizens, I will be signing an executive order to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States.”
The executive order which would take few days to be completed by administrative officials and signed by the President is expected to temporarily put on hold issuance of new green cards and work visas.
According to an administrative officer, the order is aimed at addressing coronavirus related unemployment issues in the country, and it would last for 120 days or so.
The executive order came as the government is on a plan to reopen parts of the America’s business shutdowns due to coronavirus. The order is however seen as part of the president long held plan to slow down immigration.
However, it was not immediately clear from the executive order what other aspects of immigration like family immigration would be affected. It was not readily known whether there would be exemptions to the order especially for people who are “essential workers” like health care providers, farm workers and others.
President Trump had earlier put some measures in place to curtail the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. Notable among these measures are: the travel ban on China and Europe, visa offices closed down, and refugee resettlement that has been put on hold.
Speaking about the order and the its employment implications, Kayleigh McEnany, White House press secretary wrote, “President Trump is committed to protecting the health and economic well-being of American citizens as we face unprecedented times.”
“As President Trump has said, ‘Decades of record immigration have produced lower wages and higher unemployment for our citizens, especially for African American and Latino workers.
“At a time when Americans are looking to get back to work, action is necessary,” she added.
In response to Trump’s executive order tweet, Ali Noorani, an immigrant advocate and the executive director of the National Immigration Forum said in a tweet that the order was rather a blame game and the president was trying to blame immigrants for the plight of the country.
“This is not about the policy. It is about the message the president wants to send. He wants people to turn against ‘the other.’ And, regardless of the valuable contributions immigrants are making to the response and recovery, he sees immigrants as the easiest to blame,” Noorani said.
