US President Donald Trump signed an immigration order which will temporarily suspend issuance of green cards amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Trump claims that the policy aims to preserve jobs for American workers in an economy damaged by the coronavirus. However, partisans on both sides of the immigration issue believe that politics, not policy, is the motivation behind the executive order.
According to Trump, he had signed the 60-day order before his daily briefing on Wednesday. The order will not affect the hundreds of thousands of temporary work visas the country issues each year.
The order covers a long list of exemptions, such as those who are already in the country and those looking for work as physicians and nurses. Exemptions also include the spouses and minor children of American citizens.
The president described the move as a sweeping “temporary suspension of immigration into the United States.” Analysts claim this order will be popular among Trump’s most loyal political supporters as he faces a reelection battle in the near future.
“This will ensure that unemployed Americans of all backgrounds will be first in line for jobs as our economy reopens,” he said Wednesday.
Protecting jobs
“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!” Trump said on a Tweet.
According to Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, the change “will have some very modest policy effect,” but he said “it’s actually not even that big a deal.”
He explained that the “the primary function was political, to respond to people’s concern that at this point, with maybe 15% of the labor force out of work, they had to do something.”
“This announcement is more about grabbing a headline than changing immigration policy,” said Frank Sharry, executive director of America’s Voice, a liberal immigration reform group, on Wednesday.
“To me, it smacks of an electoral strategy, not a policy change, and it smacks of desperation and panic," he added.
A campaign strategy?
During the coronavirus pandemic, Trump used one of his task force briefings to emphasize the implementation of enhanced counternarcotics efforts. This aims to prevent smugglers from taking advantage of the crisis.
“In the meantime, even without this order, our Southern Border, aided substantially by the 170 miles of new Border Wall & 27,000 Mexican soldiers, is very tight - including for human trafficking!” he tweeted Wednesday.
Trump’s team insisted that he was not using the virus to establish a long-standing campaign promise during an election year.
“This is common sense the American people can very well understand: When Americans need jobs, Americans must come first,” said White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany.
“The president’s immigration policy just makes sense,” said Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh. With 22 million Americans applying for unemployment, he asked, “Why would you in good conscience introduce brand-new competition for them?”
Meanwhile, Trump’s campaign reported about the order in an email blast to supporters which reads: “PRESIDENT TRUMP WILL SIGN AN EXECUTIVE ORDER TO TEMPORARILY SUSPEND IMMIGRATION.
