- President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday suspending immigration into the US for 60 days.
- Trump initially tweeted about the measure on Monday night and said his decision was spurred by an "attack from the Invisible Enemy, as well as the need to protect the jobs of our GREAT American Citizens."
- The measure includes exemptions for medical workers and other essential workers, as well as the spouses and children of American citizens.
- The ban does not apply to any non-immigrant visas used to bring temporary workers into the US.
- Additional immigration measures might be considered later as the country seeks to reopen its industries that were shut down to stop the novel coronavirus' spread.
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President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday suspending immigration into the US for 60 days. He initially tweeted on Monday night that he planned to sign the order but provided few details.
In his tweet, Trump said his decision was spurred by an "attack from the Invisible Enemy, as well as the need to protect the jobs of our GREAT American Citizens."
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!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 21, 2020
Trump officially signed the measure on Wednesday before a coronavirus press briefing.
"This will ensure that unemployed Americans of all backgrounds will be first in line for jobs as our economy reopens," Trump said at the briefing. "It will also preserve our healthcare resources for American patients."
The order suspends new immigrant visas and will be in effect for 60 days, though it may be amended or extended as the US seeks to reopen its industries impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.
The order includes exemptions for medical and other essential workers who are working to slow the coronavirus spread, as well as spouses and children of American citizens, and "certain other aliens."
The measure leaves guest worker programs, which allow foreign nationals to temporarily work in certain industries like farming and reside in the US during employment, intact, though the order states that Trump is discussing possible restrictions on the program with his administration.
According to The New York Times, the decision to leave the programs in place came after business groups "exploded in anger."
Trump discussed the measure during a Tuesday press briefing and said the temporary ban was aimed at protecting US workers.
"By pausing immigration we'll help put Americans first in line for jobs as America reopens," he said. "I would be wrong and unjust for Americans laid off by the virus to be replaced by new immigrant labor flown in from abroad."
Suspending some types of immigration into the US marks a major expansion to several travel bans put in place to curb the coronavirus' spread.
As of Wednesday evening, the US recorded more than 839,000 coronavirus cases and more than 46,000 deaths.
Democratic Rep. Don Beyer of Virginia responded to Trump's tweet on Monday, calling it "xenophobic scapegoating."
"From the beginning, Trump has flailed about seeking someone to blame for his own failure," Bayer wrote on Twitter. "Immigration has nearly stopped and the US has far more cases than any other country."
Rep. Eric Swalwell of California, a Democrat who ran for the party's 2020 presidential nomination, said Trump's order was an attempt to blame the US's failure to stem the coronavirus' spread on immigrants.
"We don't need to protect America from immigrants. We need to protect her from you," he said in a response to Trump's tweet.
"He wants us to think our pandemic is the fault of immigrants & other nations," Swalwell wrote in a follow-up tweet.
"But we're in this crisis- 42k-plus deaths & a faltering economy as other nations did better- due to his failures of foresight & leadership, & his ongoing failure to take responsibility & accept reality."
Sen. Kamala Harris of California, also a former 2020 presidential candidate, responded to Trump's tweet as well, saying the move was "shamelessly politicizing this pandemic to double down on his anti-immigrant agenda."
"Trump failed to take this crisis seriously from day 1," she wrote. "His abandonment of his role as president has cost lives. And now, he's shamelessly politicizing this pandemic to double down on his anti-immigrant agenda. Enough, Mr. President. The American people are fed up."
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