by Allan Wall
On the night of April 20th, President Trump tweeted that “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!”
By “Invisible Enemy” the President means the COVID-19 Coronavirus. The point is, with all the Americans not working as a result of the Coronavirus Crisis, we shouldn’t bring more people into the country. And that makes perfect sense to me.
And the president has the authority to do this. According to the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8USC1182, 212(f): “Whenever the President finds that the entry of any aliens or of any class of aliens into the United States would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, he may by proclamation, and for such period as he shall deem necessary, suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens as immigrants or nonimmigrants, or impose on the entry of aliens any restrictions he may deem to be appropriate.” (See here).
In the past, President Reagan, President George H.W. Bush and President Obama have used this authority. They not Trump?
There are people high in our government, however, that don’t want a suspension of immigration, and this was discussed at the highest level.
Tucker Carlson explained it thusly on a recent broadcast: “Apparently key White House aides were afraid of angering corporate leaders, for example Apple CEO Tim Cook. Someone actually said that. What would Tim Cook think?”
It shouldn’t matter what Tim Cook, or any other big tech mogul, thinks about it.
By the time the order was signed on April 22nd, it really didn’t do much.
According to an analysis of the order on the excellent Numbers USA website, “…the actual order does nothing to pause the hundreds of thousands of nonimmigrant visas issued each year and only delays the granting of a limited number of green cards.” (See here).
As Numbers USA reports, the executive order “has no impact on nonimmigrant visas that are issued each year, including H-1B high-skilled guest workers, H-2A agricultural guest workers, H-2B low-skilled, non-agricultural guest workers, cultural exchange students who often come to the United States to work seasonal jobs, and employment authorization for foreign students graduating from U.S. colleges and universities, otherwise known as the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program.”
Amazing that in a pandemic and mass unemployment, you wouldn’t suspend the entrance of more guest workers.
What about “green cards”, which are issued to permanent residents? Quoth Numbers USA, “The order freezes the issuance of green cards for 60 days to visa lottery winners and non-nuclear adult family members, but only if all three of the following conditions exist: 1) they’re not currently in the United States, 2) they haven’t already received an immigrant visa, and 3) they don’t have an official travel document to enter the United States.”
And check this one out: “The order freezes most employment-based green cards, however the freeze exempts healthcare workers and EB-5 foreign investor visas that mostly go to wealthy Chinese nationals.”
So, “wealthy Chinese nationals” can still get in.
As Numbers USA explains, “Most individuals who would have received green cards over the next 60 days will simply have to wait until after the Executive Order lifts to receive their green cards. In effect, the order will have little to no impact on the actual number of foreign workers authorized to enter and work in the United States, providing little relief for American workers, if any at all.”
Isn’t that something?
So of what value was this executive order?
Maybe, just maybe, it can get the concept of an immigration suspension on the front burner.
In fact, what we really need is an immigration shutdown.
Our country now has about 330 million people. It’s the third-biggest population of the world, after China and India.
Given recent developments in automation, within the next few decades many jobs may be eliminated. We will be doing well to have enough jobs for our own people, much less for bringing more workers into the country.
Rather than just an immigration suspension what we need is an immigration shutdown.
We should shut down the entrance of new permanent residents and guest workers.
Immigration is not what our country needs right now. It’s time for a shutdown.
© 2020 Allan Wall – All Rights Reserved
E-Mail Allan Wall: allanwall39@gmail.com
