United States President Donald Trump announced late Monday night that he will be signing an executive order to temporarily suspend immigration into the country. On Twitter, he justified this decision in the light “of the attack from the Invisible Enemy as well as the need to protect the jobs of the great American citizens”.
In announcing this latest move, Trump failed to give any further details, such is how this mechanism will operate or the length of this suspension.
Refugee resettlement procedures have already been put on hold in previous weeks, while visa offices were largely closed.
This announcement was met with indignity by immigration avocates. On Twitter, Ali Noorani, Executive Director of the National Immigration Forum said: “This is not about the policy. It is about the message the president wants to send. He wants people to turn against ‘the other.’ And, regardless of the valuable contributions immigrants are making to the response and recovery, he sees immigrants as the easiest to blame”.
The US President, who is seeking re-election late this year, had already said late in March that borders would be mostly sealed off during this pandemic “and beyond”. Last weekend, the Department of Homeland Security announced that restrictions to non-essential travel were extended to Mexico and Canada. Trump has also implemented an order to allow the federal government to quickly return migrants arrested at the border.
