COVID-19: Trump Okays 60-Day Ban On Immigrants Seeking Permanent US Status
- Rights groups, Democrats slam order
- Insist it’s diversionary tactics
United States President, Donald Trump has announced a 60-day ban on immigrants seeking to live and work in America permanently.
This is as he warned that the ban could be extended depending on general health implications and economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.
The US president framed the executive order, which he expects to sign on Wednesday (today), April 22, 2020 as an effort to protect American workers from foreign competition.
He said it would apply only to those seeking green cards and not temporary workers, but he did not explain how those whose applications are currently being processed would be affected.
“By pausing immigration, we will help put unemployed Americans first in line for jobs as America reopens – so important,” Trump told reporters at Tuesday’s coronavirus taskforce briefing.
“It would be wrong and unjust for Americans laid off by the virus to be replaced with new immigrant labour flown in from abroad. We must first take care of the American worker.”
The “pause” would be in effect for 60 days, he added, after which the need for an extension or alternation would be reviewed “based on economic conditions at the time”. Under questioning, he confirmed that he might then decide to add a further 30 days or more.
Trump said: “This order will only apply to individuals seeking a permanent residency. In other words, those receiving green cards. Big factor. It will not apply to those entering on a temporary basis … We want to protect our US workers and I think, as we move forward, we will become more and more protective of them.”
The president, who has long campaigned against illegal immigration and again touted his US-Mexico border wall at Tuesday’s briefing, added that the move would help conserve medical resources for US citizens.
About a million people were granted green cards last year. The biggest share are family-based immigration sponsorships for permanent residency of foreign nationals by their American spouses.
Alexander Hunter-Mihalić, a CNN producer, tweeted: “My wife’s greencard renewal is being – or was being – processed. What does that mean for her?”
The remarks followed an ambiguous tweet on Monday night that caught his own officials by surprise and provoked an angry backlash from immigration rights groups and Democrats.
Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee to take on Trump in November’s election, said: “Rather than execute a swift and aggressive effort to ramp up testing, Donald Trump is tweeting incendiary rhetoric about immigrants in the hopes that he can distract everyone from the core truth: he’s moved too slowly to contain this virus, and we are all paying the price for it.”
Ali Noorani, President of the National Immigration Forum (NIF), said: “President Trump’s call to suspend immigration to the US ignores the reality of our situation: the fact is that immigrants are standing shoulder to shoulder with US citizens on the frontlines helping us get through this pandemic.
“How many families would go without health care, food or otherwise if it wasn’t for immigrants working alongside native-born Americans yesterday, today and tomorrow?”
Immigrants account for 17% of healthcare workers and 24% of direct care workers nationwide, Noorani added, while H-1B visa holders are helping to find a vaccine to Covid-19 and agricultural workers continue to be essential in maintaining food chains that re-supply grocery stores.
On his part, Mayra Macías, Executive Director of Latino Victory, said: “Trump is once again using his old playbook of scapegoating immigrants to cover up his failures. But we will not be fooled – he’s doing it to distract us from his disastrous response to the coronavirus pandemic.” – The Guardian
