SAN DIEGO – President Donald Trump extended a pandemic-related ban on green cards and work visas to large groups of applicants until Thursday, March 31, while a federal appeals court set him aside from a rule requiring new immigrants to have their own health insurance.
The twin development on the last day of 2020 summed up how Trump made U.S. immigration policy more restrictive without the support of Congress. Elected President Joe Biden has vowed to undo much of Trump’s actions, but it is unclear how quickly and to what extent.
Federal judges have limited the impact of the visa ban on pandemic, which would expire Thursday. Biden, who now has to decide when and if he wants to lift it after taking office on January 20, does not deal with the matter specifically in his immigration platform.
Biden also does not directly address the health insurance requirement in his platform, and a lawyer who sued Thursday over the policy asked him to revoke it immediately.
In April, Trump introduced a ban on green cards issued abroad, aimed largely at family members of people already in the United States. After a surprisingly cold reception of immigration hawks, the administration went much further in June by adding H-1B visas, which are widely used by American and Indian workers of the technology company and their families; H-2B visas for non-agricultural seasonal workers; J-1 visas for cultural exchanges; and L-1 visas for managers and other key employees of multinational companies.
Trump said the measures would protect U.S. jobs in a pandemic economy, while business groups said it would hamper a recovery.
“The impact of COVID-19 on the U.S. labor market and on the health of American communities is a matter of constant national concern,” reads Trump’s proclamation, which highlights the growing number of cases and the restrictions on state-owned enterprises.
In contrast, the administration’s edict to expel asylum seekers and others illegally crossing the border from Mexico is justified on the grounds that it contains the coronavirus, although reports by The Associated Press and others find that government scientists see no evidence of this. . A temporary ban on non-essential travel across Mexican and Canadian borders has also been put in place for public health.
In October, a federal judge in San Francisco ruled that the ban on work visas could not be applied to groups that are being sued and their members, who represent a large part of the U.S. economy: the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers , the National Retail Federation, the technology industry group TechNet and Intrax Inc., which manage cultural exchange programs.
In December, a federal judge in Oakland, California, prevented the green card ban from coming into effect on families of 181 U.S. citizens and legal residents who sued.
In the ruling issued Thursday, a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals panel voted 2-1 to clear the way for Trump’s requirement that immigrants have health insurance. New immigrants must show that they can get coverage within thirty days and pay their medical expenses. A federal judge has blocked the rule from taking effect almost immediately after it was announced in October 2019.
Judge Daniel P. Collins, a nominee from Trump, wrote that the president acted within his authority and relied heavily on the Supreme Court ruling that upheld the travel ban on several predominantly Muslim countries. Judge Jay Bybee, appointed by President George W. Bush, joined him.
Judge A. Wallace Tashima, appointed by President Bill Clinton, thought differently and called the policy “a major reform of the immigration laws of this country without the input of Congress – a comprehensive and unprecedented exercise of unilateral executive power.” ‘
Esther Sung, a lawyer for Justice Action Center, an advocacy group that sued to block the rule, said she was disappointed.
The ruling “makes it clear that the Biden government needs to act quickly to repeal all of the president’s xenophobic proclamations, including this health care ban,” she said.
The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment.