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Trump Puts Immigration on Hold for 60 Days

By allowing fewer immigrants, Trump hopes to give Americans a chance to get back to work.

By:  |  April 27, 2020  |    409 Words
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(Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

President Trump has signed a proclamation limiting certain types of immigration to the United States for the next 60 days. With so many people losing their jobs during the crisis, the president said his reason for cutting back on immigration is to help American citizens  get back to work as soon as the Coronavirus lockdown is over.

During the suspension period, overseas immigration applications for certain types of green cards will not be processed. This does not apply to those seeking work in any field that can help with the aftermath of COVID-19. It also does not apply to people who are married to U.S. citizens, or children under the age of 21 seeking to reunite with parents.

President Trump tweeted: “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 president later described his motivation for making the proclamation at a White House press briefing, adding that “It would be wrong and unjust for Americans laid off by the virus to be replaced with new immigrant labor flown in from abroad … We must first take care of the American worker.” He continued, “I want the American worker and our American citizens to be able to get jobs. I don’t want them to compete right now.”

Trump specifically highlighted the struggles experienced by African American communities, which tend to be the first hit by economic downturn. He wrote, “These are the workers who, at the margin between employment and unemployment, are likely to bear the burden of excess labor supply disproportionately.”

Critics of the president have suggested that he is using the Coronavirus crisis to limit migration in the long term. The executive director of the National Immigration Forum, Ali Noorani, wrote in response to the move:

“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.”

Whether this presidential proclamation will help Americans to find new jobs or his critics are correct and he is playing politics, only one thing remains certain: When the crisis is over, the only way the American economy will recover is for Americans to get back to work.

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