President Donald Trump announced this past Monday that he will be signing an Executive Order that would suspend all immigration into the United States in order to prevent further economic damage brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.
President Donald Trump announced this past Monday that he will be signing an Executive Order that would suspend all immigration into the United States in order to prevent further economic damage brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.
“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 tweeted.
This is not the first time Trump has banned travel into the US as a response to this pandemic. When cases first began appearing in America, he banned most travel to and from China, as well as restricted travel for more than 24 European countries. In addition, he closed the Canadian and Mexican borders; all of these policies have been relatively precedented considering the rest of the world has also enforced strict travel bans.
The details of the immigration order, however, are unclear, but Democrats within Congress are demanding to know who the President plans to apply this temporary policy towards, and how long he’s planning on enforcing it. Trump hasn’t even discussed when this would be going into effect either. However, Kayleigh McEnany, the White House Secretary, recently made a statement regarding the President’s new order and his dedication to keeping the American people safe.
“The president is committed to protecting the health and economic well-being of American citizens as we face unprecedented times. 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,” McEnany said.
As most Americans remember, Trump’s main campaign policy was a promise to reduce illegal immigration; mainly the number of people coming into America by illegally crossing the Mexico/America border. Before the pandemic, his administration was working to move the US towards a points-based immigration system, like in Canada and Australia. In fact, earlier this year Jared Kushner, Trump’s Senior Adviser and son-in-law, was quietly trying to resurrect discussions that would overhaul the entire immigration system.
However, ever since this pandemic began almost 22 million people have lost their jobs, which is exponentially greater than the amount of jobs lost during the 2008 recession. Economic recovery has been Trump’s administration’s biggest goal since this entire ordeal began, so much so that he believes the economy will be able to reopen by the end of next month. So to kill two birds with one stone, if you will, Trump is halting all immigration into America.
After Trump made this announcement, many Democrats in Congress took to Twitter, and other social media platforms, to express their discontent with the lack of clarity the president has provided with this policy, and the coronavirus pandemic overall. House Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries quote-tweeted Trump’s policy announcement and called him the “xenophobe in chief,” for example.
“This action is not only an attempt to divert attention away from Trump’s failure to stop the spread of the coronavirus and save lives, but an authoritarian-like move to take advantage of a crisis and advance his anti-immigrant agenda. We must come together to reject his division,” tweeted Representative Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
One federal judge in California ordered the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to “identify and track” every individual in an ICE detention center that’s at a greater risk of complications from COVID-19, and to strongly consider releasing them for everyone’s safety, regardless of their legal status. However, the overall attitude coming from Democrats in response to this policy is that it’s a “pathetic attempt to shift blame from his Visible Incompetence to an Invisible Enemy,” at least according to Senator Tim Kaine.
Senator Kamala Harris, who’s currently a possible vice presidential pick for Joe Biden, said that Trump has “failed to take this crisis seriously from day 1. His abandonment of his role as president has cost lives.” The president’s policy is likely a response to the US reaching almost 800,000 confirmed cases for covid-19, with over 40,000 deaths brought on by the virus or medical complications brought on by infection.
It’s a complex argument, as many democrats are firm in their stance that Trump’s policy is a xenophobic attempt to protect big business in America from further damage brought on by this pandemic while he continues to neglect his actual citizens lack of healthcare protections. While on the other hand, republicans are arguing that any and all travel should be halted around the world anyway, as that’s exactly what we’ve been telling everyone to do anyway; stay inside and quarantined.
Overall, political tensions are the highest they’ve been in a while thanks to this pandemic and the many industries it’s impacting. For now, regardless of political belief, it’s imperative that we all listen to our country’s healthcare workers and take this pandemic seriously by staying inside, washing our hands consistently, and disinfecting all of our commonly used surfaces/belongings.
Eric Mastrota is a Contributing Editor at The National Digest based in New York. A graduate of SUNY New Paltz, he reports on world news, culture, and lifestyle. You can reach him at eric.mastrota@thenationaldigest.com.
