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President Trump said Tuesday he will momentarily suspend migration to the United States for a minimum of 60 days in order to ensure Americans laid off during the coronavirus pandemic are “first in line” for new jobs.
Trump, who had tweeted late on Monday that he planned to sign an executive order stopping immigration, stated during his everyday press rundown that the order would last 60 days. After that, Trump said the restriction would be reviewed after he looks at unemployment and economic figures.
” By pausing migration we will help put out of work Americans first in line for tasks,” Trump said. “We need to initially take of care of the American worker.”
He included: “It would be wrong and unjust for Americans laid off by the virus to be replaced with new immigrant labor flown in from abroad.”
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The federal government reported last Thursday that 5.2 million more Americans looked for unemployment benefits recently, bringing the four-week total to about 22 million out of a work force of 159 million– easily the worst stretch of U.S. job losses on record. The losses equate to about one in 7 employees.
Trump’s remarks also come a day after U.S. equity markets plunged, with oil rates turning negative for the first time in history. On Monday, 3 states– Georgia, Tennessee, and South Carolina– exposed strategies to start reopening some services.
The president has up until now offered no information about which migration programs may be impacted, and by Tuesday afternoon the White House had yet to release any information.
While a difficult stop on migration would usually affect millions of individuals, much of the immigration system has currently ground to a stop because of the pandemic.
Nearly all visa processing by the State Department has actually been suspended for weeks. Travel to the U.S. has actually been restricted from much of the world. And Trump has used the virus to successfully end asylum at U.S. borders, consisting of turning away children who show up by themselves and putting a hold on refugee resettlement– something Congress, the courts and worldwide law hadn’t formerly allowed.
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Criticism of Trump’s new statement was swift, specifically his timing throughout the pandemic. Ali Noorani, president of the National Immigration Online forum, noted that countless foreign-born healthcare workers are currently treating people with COVID-19 and operating in crucial sectors of the economy.
Andrea Flores of the American Civil Liberties Union stated Trump appeared “more interested in fanning anti-immigrant flames than in conserving lives.”
But Jessica Vaughn, director of policy studies at the Center for Migration Studies, which favors lower rates of immigration, stated that getting rid of millions of work authorizations and visas would “instantaneously produce” brand-new jobs for Americans and other legal workers– despite the fact that many services are shuttered due to the fact that of social distancing dictates and stay-at-home orders.
The U.S. is now reporting more COVID-19 cases than any other nation on the planet, with almost 800,000 Americans infected, according to figures assembled by Johns Hopkins University. More than 42,000 have died.
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In a statement, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany explained the order as aimed at protecting both the “health and financial wellness of American citizens as we deal with extraordinary times.” She said, “At a time when Americans are looking to return to work, action is required.”
Though travel restrictions around the globe have considerably reduced migration, Trump might utilize his executive authority to limit it further, consisting of slashing the number of foreign employees permitted to take seasonal tasks in the U.S. Before the outbreak, the administration had actually prepared to increase the number of H-2B visas, but the Department of Homeland Security put that old in early April.
Sarah Pierce, a policy expert at the Migration Policy Institute, said Trump might end the processing of immigrant and non-immigrant visa applications under the very same legal authority he utilized to enforce the travel ban that was supported by the Supreme Court. She stated the State Department has actually mainly stopped processing visas anyway.
Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz, who met Trump at the White House Tuesday, stated the president was looking at different carve-outs for individuals like agricultural laborers, physician and people with family in the United States.
Fox News’ Gregg Re and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
