President Trump signed a proclamation Wednesday pausing some immigration into the U.S., saying it will give out-of-work Americans a better shot at getting jobs in a coronavirus-stricken economy.
It only applies to potential immigrants who are not yet in the U.S., and don’t already have a visa in hand. Exceptions are made for doctors and nurses, members of the military and their spouses and children, and any spouses and younger children of U.S. citizens.
Wealthy investors who apply to take advantage of the so-called “Golden Visa” are also exempt and can continue to enter the U.S. under the proclamation.
Mr. Trump did not ban temporary guest workers, though the White House said they are looking at those non-immigrant visas for possible future action.
“This will ensure that unemployed Americans of all backgrounds will be first in line for jobs,” the president told reporters minutes after he signed the proclamation.
The pause lasts 60 days, though Mr. Trump said he would consider extending it, or amending it to add more waivers.
“We may modify it as we go along,” he said.
It’s not clear how many people will be denied by the 60-day pause, though the State Department issued about 80,000 immigrant visas during May and June last year. Not all of those immigrants will take jobs here, and some of those likely fall into the waiver categories Mr. Trump carved out.
Still, the decision not to pause guest workers has angered many activists in the president’s camp.
Analysts say those guest workers are the bigger threat to Americans thrown out of work amid coronavirus, since they work the kinds of service and hospitality jobs that have most suffered from coronavirus layoffs.
Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, said Mr. Trump’s proclamation fell short of his promise to American workers.
“What it truly does is protect powerful business interests that want to undermine American workers,” he said.
The unemployment rate is already projected to reach 14% this quarter, and will remain above 10% through the end of 2021, according to a preliminary analysis by the Congressional Budget Office. That accounts for tens of millions of jobs.
In his proclamation, Mr. Trump said green card holders are particularly troubling in the U.S. economy because they can move from job to job unfettered, and there is usually no requirement that employers look for Americans first before hiring a green card holder.
Those requirements to exist for most guest-worker programs — though how well they are followed is heatedly debated.
Mr. Trump said black and other minority workers and recent entrants into the workforce, who are at the margins of the job picture, suffer particularly from competition with green card holders.
Mr. Trump said the immigration pause will help in non-economic ways as well.
He said it frees State Department consular officials, who were reviewing the green card requests, so they can now focus on helping Americans abroad amid coronavirus.
Immigrant-rights activists have denounced Mr. Trump’s move, saying it’s aimed more at his political goals than it is at rescuing the U.S. economy.
“Donald Trump has become the Distractor-in-Chief,” said Frank Sharry, executive director of America’s Voice. “He’s more interested in flattening the curve of America’s growing distrust of his handling of the coronavirus pandemic than in saving our lives. The latest immigration ’ban’ is nothing more than another warmed-over anti-immigrant maneuver out of his xenophobic bag of tricks.”
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.