An executive order signed by President Trump expanding immigration restrictions to protect the labor market for American workers in the midst of the pandemic will expire this week – and immigration hawks are asking him to extend it.
Trump first signed an order in April that restricted some green cards and then expanded it in June to include a series of guest worker programs – including new H-1B tech worker visas, H-2B seasonal worker visas, certain J jobs and educational exchange visas for visitors and L executive transfer visas. It contained exemptions for military and health workers, and cases considered to be of national interest.
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While Trump imposed separate travel restrictions to protect public health, this was done specifically to protect the job market amid the coronavirus. The government estimated that the request would affect about 600,000 jobs.
“There is an unprecedented number of unemployed Americans, but we also expect to see unprecedented growth in our economy,” a senior government official told Fox News in June.
“To ensure that we are hiring Americans first, we are putting a pause on certain non-immigrant visas for the United States,” added the official, “again for the purpose of ensuring that Americans can get jobs here in the US”
The order was criticized by large companies, such as Twitter, who claimed that it hurt “America’s biggest economic asset: its diversity”.
Business groups, like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, also opposed the order, saying it would prevent companies from meeting the needs of their workforce.
But with the request set to expire on Thursday, there is no indication that Trump is extending the order – and immigration hawks are asking him to extend it to the new year.
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“You have resisted the intense pressure from powerful commercial interests that continue to demand more cheap foreign labor, even after firing an unprecedented number of American workers,” said Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) in a letter to the president this week. “I urge you to extend this proclamation until 2021 in an effort to further protect American workers and their families during these difficult times.
Stein notes that it is a measure that can be politically complex for President-elect Joe Biden when he takes over the White House.
“If Joe Biden ends up entering the Oval Office and quickly rescinds his proclamation, he will have to respond to the American people and tell them why he decided to increase immigration and restore unrestricted access to guest workers amid the biggest economic crisis in memory” he wrote.
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Biden has pledged to reverse a number of Trump’s immigration policies, specifically related to asylum and illegal immigration – but also related to legal immigration and guest worker programs.
The president-elect also said that he wants to reform the visa system to ensure that it is not used to undermine waves, before expanding the number of visas to “highly skilled workers” and ending the country visa limits.