Donald Trump will extend a suspension of immigration into the US imposed in response to the coronavirus pandemic, banning green card applications for the rest of the year and restricting other visa categories, including those for high-skilled jobs.
A senior official said Mr Trump was also limiting other visas, including H-1Bs, which are frequently used by technology companies, and H-2s, which are used for lower-skilled jobs. The official said the restrictions would create employment opportunities for roughly 525,000 Americans.
“He is leading an ‘America First’ recovery and as part of that. He’s extending and expanding the suspension of certain visas,” the official said.
Mr Trump is expected to sign an executive order implementing the restrictions, which have been strongly condemned by many large companies who argue they would hurt US competitiveness.
Chuck Robbins, the Cisco Systems chairman and chief executive who chairs the immigration committee of the Business Roundtable, told the Financial Times that business leaders had adamantly explained to the administration why it would be damaging to shut down these programmes.
“We still have a talent shortage in the tech field,” Mr Robbins said. “This may be a Canadian Jobs Creation Act. You can go to Toronto and hire people there and work quite effectively. That is the risk we run if we start to eliminate these programmes.”
Edward Alden, an immigration expert at the Council on Foreign Relations, said the Trump administration was “killing the goose that laid the golden egg”, since the US had benefited for decades from attracting the best scientists, engineers and students from around the world.
“The Trump administration is more determined than ever to drive them away. This will have lasting negative impacts in the US ability to lead in innovation, and to stay ahead of China in the race to develop the technologies of the future,” Mr Alden said.
The official said the restrictions would also apply to H4 visas, which allow spouses of H-1B visa holders to live in the US and, in some cases, work. It would also target L visas, which companies use to transfer managers to their US offices.
The restrictions will apply to J visas, but the official said there would be an exception for au pairs.
The official said Mr Trump also wanted to reform the H-1B system. At the moment the US government uses a lottery to award the visas, which are capped annually at 85,000. Mr Trump wants to move to a more merit-based system that would involve applicants being ranked according to the salary they are offered for the job.
In April Mr Trump suspended immigration by ordering a ban on applying for green cards — which grant US permanent residency — for at least 60 days. He said the move was meant to protect jobs, as US unemployment surged due to the pandemic.
“There is no way to protect already disadvantaged and unemployed Americans from the threat of competition for scarce jobs from new lawful permanent residents,” Mr Trump said in April.
In a memo that accompanied the April order, the White House said Mr Trump would review “guest worker” programmes, which includes people on agricultural H-2A visas and non-agricultural H-2B visas, as well as H-1B visas used to hire critical high-skilled labour for technology companies.
The move to further restrict immigration comes as Mr Trump revs up his re-election campaign. Four years ago he won the White House partly by stoking fear about illegal immigration from Mexico and other countries. Political analysts expect Mr Trump to return to the issue of immigration again this year, particularly as he struggles against Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential nominee, in the polls.
Mr Biden leads Mr Trump by 9.5 points, according to an average of recent polls compiled by Real Clear Politics. Mr Trump relaunched his campaign with a rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Saturday, but the event was attended by fewer than 7,000 supporters, despite the campaign saying they had received interest from more than 1m Americans.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiP2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmZ0LmNvbS9jb250ZW50LzQ2ZWNjMDAzLTc1OGMtNDVhYi05YjJlLTJmN2I4OWUwZGY2MtIBP2h0dHBzOi8vYW1wLmZ0LmNvbS9jb250ZW50LzQ2ZWNjMDAzLTc1OGMtNDVhYi05YjJlLTJmN2I4OWUwZGY2Mg?oc=5
2020-06-22 21:14:47Z
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