Business Phone
Amid the COVID 19, Trump administration issued a series of policy changes affecting almost every aspect of the immigration system.
A new work visa temporarily suspended by Trump on Monday barred entry of immigrants into the country seeking employment in the US and would continue up to the year-end. Visas are blocked for a variety of jobs, who enter the country under the H1B visa, along with seasonal workers in the hospitality industry, students work-study program, and au pair arriving under other auspices.
Restricting the ability of American firms with global operations and international firms with US branches blocks spouses employed at firms in the US
Banning work visas along with restrictions on the issuance of new green cards would keep 525,000 foreign workers out of the country for the rest of the year. Stephen Miller, the architect of Trump’s immigration policy pushed it for a year to limit or eliminate work visas as it threatened the employment policy prospects for Americans, and the virus caused economic distress made it turn off the spigot.
The directive opposed by business leaders said that it will block the ability to recruit critically needed workers for jobs from countries overseas, which the Americans are unwilling
Trump’s orders would not affect people outside the US with valid visas or seasonal farmworkers in the past 15 years.
Certain medical workers dealing specially with COVID research will have a narrow exception, said Administration officials. The order bans au pairs coming to the US for children’s care would be an exemption as told by the officials initially to the reporters.
Parents could seek waivers to the ban on a case by case basis with no assurance approved as told by two senior administration officials. To ensure that Americans are first in line for scarce jobs Trump’s suspension of the visa by order doesn’t reflect a dynamic and changing workforce. Certain nonimmigrant visa programs authorizing employment pose an unusual threat to the employment of American workers written in Trump’s order.
For this year’s re-election campaign Trump energizes his core supporters by restricting entry of foreigners into the US, the president’s key promise during the 2016 campaign.
In April. Mr.Trump signed an executive order for 60 days suspending the issuance of Green cards to most foreigners wanting to reside in the US and Mr.Trump avoided imposing limits on the worker visa owing to pressure from the business community, Mr.Miller. Monday’s order prohibits green cards and suspends many workers’ visas.
Merged with recent measures, work visas suspension will favor the US market, says Jessica Vaughan, the policy director, center for Immigration who was regularly consulted by the White House aides on the visa program issue.
In addition to the temporary suspension, Trump was directing the govt to make permanent changes in immigration regulations to discourage unfair competition from foreigners coming to the US for American jobs.
Administration can issue an emergency rule to expedite changes than going through the normal process which is time-consuming since the public has to comment before enacting the final rule. But expediting the process could invite legal challenges from opponents saying the administration didn’t follow the rules.
Amid the pandemic, the Trump administration has issued a series of policy changes announced as temporary and every aspect of the immigration system. Mr. Trump’s and his aides said the suspension of visa is due to the pandemic. In 2017, Trump endorsed the RAISE ACT, a republican senate bill that cut about 50% of legal immigration including business visas. In the week leading up to the announcement on Monday, a various coalition of business and research universities had lobbied fiercely streaming the White House attempting to limit the scope of the executive order.
Cornell law professor, Steve Yale Loehr, says these restrictions which affect 1000 businesses and Universities, individuals will be stuck overseas unable to help in the recovery of the US economy. Director of immigration of studies, libertarian Cato Institue, Alex Nowrasteh said Trump’s administration argued that it wanted to create a merit-based immigration system prioritizing educated immigrants with skills and Trump’s administration suspended the H1B visa program aiming for fewer immigrants.
H-2B visas were used by Mr. Trump to hire seasonal staff for his resort as cooks and waiters.
Source:https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/22/us/politics/trump-h1b-work-visas.html
