Trump says he will suspend all immigration into U.S. over coronavirus

By Jeff Mason

 

U.S. President Donald Trump points to a reporter as he answers questions during the daily coronavirus task force briefing at the White House in Washington, U.S., April 20, 2020. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Monday he will suspend all immigration into the United States temporarily through an executive order in response to the coronavirus outbreak and to protect American jobs.

 

The move, which the Republican president announced on Twitter, effectively achieves a long-term Trump policy goal to curb immigration, making use of the health and economic crisis that has swept the country as a result of the pandemic to do so.

 

The decision drew swift condemnation from some Democrats, who accused the president of creating a distraction from what they view as a slow and faulty response to the coronavirus.

 

Trump said he was taking the action to protect the U.S. workforce. Millions of Americans are suffering unemployment after companies shed employees amid nationwide lockdowns to stop the contagion.

 

"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 in a tweet.

 

The White House declined to offer further details about the reasoning behind the decision, its timing, or its legal basis.

 

"As our country battles the pandemic, as workers put their lives on the line, the President attacks immigrants & blames others for his own failures", former Democratic presidential candidate Amy Klobuchar said in a tweet.

 

Immigration is largely halted into the United States anyway thanks to border restrictions and flight bans put in place as the virus spread across the globe.

 

But the issue remains an effective rallying cry for Trump's supporters.

 

Trump won the White House in 2016 in part on a promise to curb immigration by building a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico. He and his advisers have spent the first three years of his tenure cracking down on both legal and illegal entries into the country. Crowds regularly chant "Build the Wall!" at Trump's political rallies, which are now idled because of the virus.

 

Trump has lamented the economic fallout of the outbreak; his stewardship of the U.S. economy was set to be his key argument for re-election in November.

 

The U.S. death toll from the virus topped 42,000 on Monday, according to a Reuters tally.

 

The U.S. economy has come to a near standstill because of the pandemic; more than 22 million people applied for unemployment benefits in the last month.

 

"You cut off immigration, you crater our nation’s already weakened economy," former Democratic presidential candidate Julian Castro said in a tweet. "What a dumb move."

 

The United States has the world's largest number of confirmed coronavirus cases, with more than 780,000 infections, up 27,000 on Monday.

 

But the president has made a point of saying the peak had passed and has been encouraging U.S. states to reopen their economies.

 

"It makes sense to protect opportunities for our workforce while this pandemic plays out," said Thomas Homan, Trump's former acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "It's really not about immigration. It's about the pandemic and keeping our country safer while protecting opportunities for unemployed Americans."

 

The United States in mid-March suspended all routine visa services, both immigrant and non-immigrant, in most countries worldwide due to the coronavirus outbreak in a move that has potentially impacted hundreds of thousands of people.

 

U.S. missions have continued to provide emergency visa services as resources allowed and a senior State Department official in late March said U.S. was ready work with people who were already identified as being eligible for various types of visas, including one for medical professionals.

The administration recently announced an easing of rules to allow in more agricultural workers on temporary H2A visas to help farmers with their crops.

 

(Additional reporting by Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru, Humeyra Pamuk in Washington, and Mica Rosenberg; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-04-22

 

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Let us hope that the rest of the world immediately responds in kind.

Just typical trump distraction and red meat for his base so utterly predictable 

Should have done it months ago, but he is a good hearted man and probably thought letting people in from some countries was OK.

 

I think that one lesson learned the hard way during the Big Corona is that it should be made mandatory for public office holders NOT to have access to a mobile/cell phone..AT ANY TIME.

 

If worse comes to worst at least we can all depart in peace...

35 minutes ago, Slip said:

Let us hope that the rest of the world immediately responds in kind.

Cringe. Let's let the Thai dwellers stay out in the wilderness.

Other than that if people can not leave their houses nobody comes in. Seems simple enough.

9 minutes ago, Cryingdick said:

Cringe. Let's let the Thai dwellers stay out in the wilderness.

You may well cringe.  I would too if I were an American in this day and age.  Other than that you will have to be make your comment less opaque if you want me to understand it.  Many of those who dwell in Thailand stay in the cities. 

55 minutes ago, Cryingdick said:

Cringe. Let's let the Thai dwellers stay out in the wilderness.

 

54 minutes ago, Cryingdick said:

Other than that if people can not leave their houses nobody comes in. Seems simple enough.

 

You seem to know that all this can be defended as usual.

I have one question, though. How can a man that for 2 days have been talking about easing up and lifting restriction, opening up the economy suddenly start talking about closing more? He is a truly deluded man. That´s the only thing that is simple enough to understand.

1 hour ago, Slip said:

Let us hope that the rest of the world immediately responds in kind.

NZ banned all but returning Kiwis a while back.

 

As for the US, better late than never.

1 minute ago, thaibeachlovers said:

NZ banned all but returning Kiwis a while back.

 

As for the US, better late than never.

And yet let us not hope that the rest of the world responds in kind to the decision of NZ.  Go figure.

4 minutes ago, Matzzon said:

 

 

You seem to know that all this can be defended as usual.

I have one question, though. How can a man that for 2 days have been talking about easing up and lifting restriction, opening up the economy suddenly start talking about closing more? He is a truly deluded man. That´s the only thing that is simple enough to understand.

 

I guess I am just happy that all of the previous talk of open borders has now been completely rejected hopefully forever. 

50 minutes ago, Slip said:

You may well cringe.  I would too if I were an American in this day and age.  Other than that you will have to be make your comment less opaque if you want me to understand it.  Many of those who dwell in Thailand stay in the cities. 

 

I mean the expat Americans who hate Trump, the USA and opine negatively on every thread about all things American. I am hoping they never come back if other nations respond in kind regarding immigration.

Thank you, President Trump!

4 minutes ago, Slip said:

And yet let us not hope that the rest of the world responds in kind to the decision of NZ.  Go figure.

No idea what you mean.

Waiting for Pelosi and Schiff to say coronavirus is not all that bad, borders should be reopened and illegal immigration should be allowed to once again thrive.

5 minutes ago, Kelsall said:

Waiting for Pelosi and Schiff to say coronavirus is not all that bad, borders should be reopened and illegal immigration should be allowed to once again thrive.

 

Better yet, they can claim every death outside of the USA is Trump's fault because we could have saved them all had we let them in.

 Great decision from the best President since Ronald Maximus. 

Save US jobs and bring factories back to the States. 

 

MAGA 

11 minutes ago, Cryingdick said:

 

I guess I am just happy that all of the previous talk of open borders has now been completely rejected hopefully forever. 

So yes, you agree it is immigration policy, not Covid-19 policy.

Just now, Boon Mee said:

 Great decision from the best President since Ronald Maximus. 

Save US jobs and bring factories back to the States. 

 

MAGA 

Care to explain why this decision was made now and not one month ago?

2 minutes ago, stevenl said:

So yes, you agree it is immigration policy, not Covid-19 policy.

 

Pretty much one and the same these days. Trump even said a year or more ago that open borders could lead to a pandemic and was scoffed at. The thought at the time was it was racist.  

15 minutes ago, Cryingdick said:

 

I guess I am just happy that all of the previous talk of open borders has now been completely rejected hopefully forever. 

Except for tens of thousands thousands of migrant farm workers 45 recently approved for entry...

Gotta love Trump - stirs them up ever day.  I can still remember one day a while back when this woman was going on and on about Trump and then yelled out 'Trump is destroying the world'.  This bloke calmly replied" No love - Trump is destroying your world". Most people laughed - you can imagine her fury as she stormed out - as the Bard once wrote: 'hell hath no fury .......'

 

I wonder what he will do tomorrow.

1 minute ago, AussieBob18 said:

I wonder what he will do tomorrow.

So does he...

5 minutes ago, Boon Mee said:

 Great decision from the best President since Ronald Maximus. 

Save US jobs and bring factories back to the States. 

 

MAGA 

Open borders and making everything in China - who benefited from that anyway?

KAGA

Just now, mikebike said:

So does he...

Stay tuned - it will be a goodie - just for you and your friends.

4 minutes ago, mikebike said:

Except for tens of thousands thousands of migrant farm workers 45 recently approved for entry...

 

How recently? Let's see if there is clarification you know when pandemics hit... things change. With the recent unemployment the thesis for needing lots of foreign workers is no longer valid. Maybe we can let the people of NYC move to Yuma Arizona and pick lemons when they are evacuated and have no job.

1 hour ago, Tug said:

Just typical trump distraction and red meat for his base so utterly predictable 

Is it not trump following Paleoconservatism ideology? Although the article is fairly old provides a good back grounder.

 

https://www.vox.com/2016/5/6/11592604/donald-trump-paleoconservative-buchanan

 

 

6 minutes ago, Cryingdick said:

 

Pretty much one and the same these days. Trump even said a year or more ago that open borders could lead to a pandemic and was scoffed at. The thought at the time was it was racist.  

Actually it was December 2018 and the headline was:

"Trump: Border wall needed to stop 'tremendous medical problem' coming into US"

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/420870-trump-border-wall-needed-to-stop-tremendous-medical-problem-coming

 

The Dems and mainstream media attacked him relentlessly as being racist and a bigot.

 

 

17 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

No idea what you mean.

Really?  I had you down as smarter than that TBL.  I mean that NZ's decision is a short term reaction to a global pandemic and nothing whatsoever to do with immigration.  Quite the opposite of Trump's tub thumping anti-immigrant stance.