After issuing a tweet on Monday night pledging to “temporarily suspend immigration into the United States,” Trump said during Tuesday’s White House coronavirus briefing that he wanted his order to help protect American jobs so that companies re-hire furloughed and fired workers rather than immigrants as states begin reopening nonessential businesses shuttered during the coronavirus epidemic.
While some Republicans have defended the order as a way to protect American jobs and lives, Democrats have called it a distraction from the lack of coronavirus testing nationwide.
During today’s White House coronavirus press briefing, Trump announced he had signed the presidential proclamation suspending the entry of new permanent residents into the U.S. for the next 60 days. He described the measure as one that halts immigration, when in fact it only bars non-citizens living outside the U.S. from being granted a green card if they do not already hold a valid immigrant visa or travel document.
“This proclamation is antithetical to everything we believe as Americans. Immigrants are working essential jobs on the frontlines of this crisis helping to keep our nation and economy moving forward. I stand ready to take legal action,” James said in a statement shared on Twitter.
Newsweek reached out to James for comment but did not receive a response in time for publication.
Trump’s order will put a two-month restriction on allowing entry by foreigners seeking legal permanent residency through a green card, a government I.D. which allows people to live and work in the United States. Green cards are often a step towards full U.S. citizenship for foreigners.
The order would bar green card holders from sponsoring additional family members for permanent residency, as well as some seeking to enter the U.S. through alternative means, such as the EB-1 “extraordinary ability” category which allows foreign workers to take on highly specialized or technical jobs in the United States.
Trump has promised exemptions however for foreign-born spouses and children of American citizens, medical professionals fighting coronavirus, people applying for a green card through the EB-5 program (which requires a $900,000 investment), U.S. military members and people “whose entry would be in the national interest,” a designation bestowed by officials like the U.S. Secretary of State or Secretary of Homeland Security, according to NBC News.
The order will also not affect H-1B specialty workers, H-2A agriculture workers or anyone with existing visas.
The order is expected to go into effect at 11:59 p.m. on April 23. After 50 says, the Secretary of Homeland Security will recommend whether to extend the 60-day ban or simply let it expire.
The Mexican and Canadian borders have been closed all to non-business travelers entering the U.S., Citizenship and Immigration Services field offices around the country have been closed and all visa processing has been suspended amid the epidemic as well without Trump’s order.
As such, Louisiana Senator John Kennedy said Trump’s order “may turn out to be one of those things that sounds like it may be impactful but as a practical matter, it’s really not.”
