Donald Trump's Decision To Suspend Immigration Amid COVID-19 Could Be More Bad News For Indians
At a time when the US economy, much like the rest of the world is struggling due to the COVID-19 outbreak, President Donald Trump has stated that he is going to temporarily suspend immigration to the country.?
"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.?
Further details on the suspension including when it will come into effect were not immediately clear and the White House has also declined to provide details about the reasoning behind or its legal basis.
This comes at a time when there is mass lay off in the US, leaving millions jobless in a matter of weeks. As of last week, a record number of 22 million Americans have applied for unemployment benefits.?
This is bad news for Trump who is seeking reelection later this year. So Trump has been trying to keep the economy moving and even played down the impact of the outbreak in favour of the economy.Even now Trump has made it clear that he wants to open the country so that businesses can resume.?
Though Trump had last week allowed H-1B visa holders to continue in the country, there are reports that they could be next.The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. The technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China.
With more and more Americans losing jobs due to COVID-19 every passing day, Trump will want them replacing the techies coming from other countries on H1-b visas.
Last week the US department of homeland security had issued a notification saying that it recognises that there are immigration-related challenges as a direct result of the coronavirus pandemic."We recognise that non-immigrants may unexpectedly remain in the United States beyond their authorised period of stay due to COVID-19," the DHS said.
"We continue to carefully analyse these issues and to leverage our resources to effectively address these challenges within our existing authorities. The DHS also continues to take action to protect the American people and our communities, and is considering a number of policies and procedures to improve the employment opportunities of US workers during this pandemic," it said.
