SAN DIEGO – President Donald Trump on Thursday extended pandemic bans on green cards and work visas to large groups of candidates until March 31, while a federal appeals court sided with him on a rule requiring that new immigrants have their own health insurance.
The two developments on the last day of 2020 summed up how Trump made U.S. immigration policy more restrictive without Congressional support. President-elect Joe Biden has promised to undo many of Trump’s actions, but it is unclear how quickly and to what extent.
Federal judges limited the impact of pandemic-related visa bans, which expired on Thursday. Biden, who is now forced to decide when and whether to withdraw after taking office on January 20, does not specifically address the issue on his immigration platform.
Biden also does not directly address the health insurance requirement on his platform, and a lawyer who processed the policy on Thursday asked him to immediately terminate it.
In April, Trump imposed a ban on green cards issued abroad that are primarily aimed at family members of people who already live in the United States. After a surprisingly cold reception from immigration hawks, the government went much further in June by adding H-1B visas, which are widely used by workers in American and Indian technology companies and their families; H-2B visas for seasonal non-farm 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 American jobs in an economy devastated by a pandemic, while business groups said they would prevent the recovery.
“The effects of COVID-19 on the United States labor market and the health of American communities is a matter of continuing national concern,” said Trump’s proclamation, highlighting the growing number of cases and state restrictions on business.
In contrast, the government’s decree to immediately expel asylum seekers and others who cross the border illegally from Mexico was justified on the grounds of containing the coronavirus, although Associated Press reports and others found that government scientists saw no evidence of this. The temporary ban on non-essential travel across the Mexican and Canadian borders was also made for public health.
In October, a federal judge in San Francisco ruled that the work visa ban could not be applied against groups that sued and their members, who represent a large part of the US economy: the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers , the National Retail Federation, a technology industry group TechNet and Intrax Inc., which manages cultural exchange programs.
In December, a federal judge in Oakland, California, prevented the green card ban from taking effect against the families of 181 US citizens and legal residents who sued.
In its decision issued on Thursday, a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals panel voted 2-1 to pave the way for Trump’s demand that immigrants have health insurance. New immigrants must demonstrate that they can obtain coverage in 30 days and pay their medical expenses. A federal judge prevented the rule from taking effect almost immediately after its announcement in October 2019.
Judge Daniel P. Collins, appointed by Trump, wrote that the president acted within his authority, relying largely on the Supreme Court decision that upheld Trump’s travel ban in several predominantly Muslim countries. He was accompanied by Judge Jay Bybee, who was appointed by President George W. Bush.
Judge A. Wallace Tashima, who was appointed by President Bill Clinton, disagreed, calling the policy “a major overhaul of this nation’s immigration laws without the contribution of Congress – a comprehensive and unprecedented exercise of unilateral executive power”.
Esther Sung, a lawyer at the Justice Action Center, a defense group that opened a lawsuit to block the rule, said she was disappointed.
The decision “makes it clear that the Biden government must act quickly to terminate all President Trump’s xenophobic presidential proclamations, including this ban on health care,” she said.
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.