US to Temporarily Suspend Immigration

• US to Temporarily Suspend Immigration

President Trump led administration is presently finalising an executive order that will temporarily suspend immigration to the world’s most powerful nation.

President Trump had tweeted on Monday that due to the rising number of COVID-19 confirmed cases and the need to protect jobs amid rising unemployment numbers, he will sign an executive order to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States.

Trump said: “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 number of Americans that have filed for unemployment benefits in the last four weeks rose to 22 million from about 280,000 a month ago. Suggesting that if the lockdown persists more Americans are going to file for unemployment claims, a situation that may further disrupt the nation’s labour market.

Experts have said the chances of all these people getting rehire given the current economic situation are slim. Therefore, President Trump-led administration has decided to reduce immigrants coming into the US to increase the chance of an average American getting a job.

“President Trump is committed to protecting the health and economic well-being of American citizens as we face unprecedented times,” said Kayleigh McEnany, White House press secretary. “As President Trump has said, ‘Decades of record immigration have produced lower wages and higher unemployment for our citizens, especially for African American and Latino workers.’ At a time when Americans are looking to get back to work, action is necessary.”

Officials are now working on the draft executive order, according to an administration official. The draft is expected to be ready in few days for President Trump to sign.

While the White House did not provide details of the executive order, an official told CNN correspondence that the order would be a “temporary 120 days or so” halt on “some” work visas to mitigate some of the unemployment concerns related to the pandemic.

Amy Klobuchar, a former Democratic presidential candidate, has criticized the president for always blaming immigrants for his own failures.

“As our country battles the pandemic, as workers put their lives on the line, the President attacks immigrants & blames others for his own failures,” Klobuchar said in a tweet.

Also, US immigrant advocates responded immediately in a tweet.

“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,” Ali Noorani, the executive director of the National Immigration Forum, said on Twitter.