An executive order signed by President Trump to expand immigration restrictions to protect the U.S. labor market amid the pandemic will expire this week – and immigration hawks are urging it to expand.
Trump first signed an order restricting some green cards in April, and expanded it in June with a number of gas worker programs, including new H-1B visas for technical workers, H-2B seasonal worker visas, certain J work and visitor visas for education exchanges and visas for executive L-members It contains exemptions for military and health workers, and matters deemed to be in the national interest.
TRUMP SIGNS ORDER EXTENSION OF IMMIGRATION RESTRICTIONS TO INCLUDE H-1B, OTHER GUEST WORKER PROGRAMS
While Trump has introduced separate travel restrictions to protect public health, this has been done specifically to protect the labor market amid the coronavirus. The administration estimated that the order would affect approximately 600,000 jobs.
“There are an unprecedented number of Americans sitting out of work, but we also expect unprecedented growth in our economy,” a senior administrative official told Fox News in June.
“To ensure that we first hire Americans, we are issuing certain non-immigrant visas to the United States,” the official added, “again with the goal of ensuring that Americans can get jobs here in the US.”
The order has been criticized by big companies, such as Twitter, which claims it undermines ‘America’s biggest economic asset: its diversity’.
Business groups, such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, also opposed the order, saying it would prevent businesses from meeting their labor needs.
But with the order due to expire on Thursday, there is no indication that Trump is postponing the order – and immigration hawks are demanding that it be extended until the new year.
ICE SAY ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS THAT THEY WERE INSTALLED IN FY 2020 AVERAGE FOUR CRIMINAL OFFENSES, COSTS EACH
“You have withstood intense pressure from powerful business interests who still need cheaper foreign labor, even though they have laid off an unprecedented number of American workers,” Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) in a ‘ a letter to the president this week. “I urge you to extend this proclamation to 2021 in an effort to further protect American workers and their families during these difficult times.
Stein notes that this is a step that could be politically complicated for President-elect Joe Biden when he takes over the White House.
‘If Joe Biden finally enters the Oval Office and quickly repeals your proclamation, he will have to respond to the American people and tell them why he decided to increase immigration and restrict access to gas workers, amid the biggest economic crisis . in memory, ‘he wrote.
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Biden has undertaken to reverse a number of Trump immigration policies, specifically related to asylum and illegal immigration – but also to legal immigration and gas worker programs.
The president-elect also said he wanted to reform the visa system to make sure it was not used to undermine the waves, before expanding the number of visas for “highly skilled workers” and ending the limit on country visas.