Trump halts immigration for 60-days, will affect green card seekers
A day after he announced the plans to halt immigration into the United States "temporarily", President Donald Trump said there will be a ban on those seeking permanent residency for 60 days. Temporary visas will not be impacted due to this move, he said. Defending the controversial decision, Trump said this was done to protect American jobs, battered due to coronavirus pandemic.
The Republican President, who has never been a fan of immigration, said he will judge the economic condition after 60 days and decide on extending or terminating the ban. Trump fell short of explaining how those whose applications are already being processed will be impacted. But he stressed it was to save the American workers, directly giving a message to his Republican voter base.
"By pausing immigration, we'll help put unemployed Americans first in line for jobs as America reopens - so important. It would be wrong and unjust for Americans laid off by the virus to be replaced with new immigrant labor flown in from abroad," he said.
Green cards give foreigners legal permanent residence in the US and also an opportunity to apply for American citizenship. Typically, every year, the States issues one million green cards. Most of the applicants have relatives staying there, a 2018 report of US Senate said, according to BBC. Now, Trump said he will sign the order on Wednesday, sparking angry reactions from his critics.
To note, this order could spark a court action for reversal. And in recent months, the US judiciary has sided with the Trump administration on pertinent matters of immigration. Just last month, the high court let the government stick to a policy that sends 60,000 asylum seekers from Mexico, back to their country. The "Remain in Mexico" plan was released in December 2018.
This mega decision exempts guest worker programs, that provide visas to technology workers, farm laborers. Before Trump's briefing Jason Oxman, the President of the Information Technology Industry Council warned that banning legal immigration will not benefit the US. Similarly, Rob Larew, the President of the National Farmers Union, pointed out the food system is already stressed and this announcement just makes things worse.
With this order, Trump has given Joe Biden, who will take on him in the upcoming November elections, another opportunity to slam him. Biden said, "Rather than execute a swift and aggressive effort to ramp up testing, 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."
The COVID-19 pandemic has taken the maximum lives in the US, the toll logging 45,340 today. It has also had a monumental effect on the economy with 22 million Americans already filing for unemployment benefits. Looking at this bunch, Trump reiterated, "We want to protect our US workers and I think, as we move forward, we will become more and more protective of them."
