President Trump has finally done what immigration opponents have wanted done for years: suspended the unfettered entry of immigrants to the United States.
Though one of Trump’s key reasons for yesterday’s proclamation is the more than 22 million unemployment claims filed since March 1, a figure that increased by 4.4 million last week, the order will still permit the entry of foreigners who supposedly have critical business to do, including wealthy foreign tycoons.
Question is, when the Chinese Virus pandemic that inspired the proclamation subsides, and the labor market recovers and the economy begins growing again, will Trump rescind the measure and resume the flood of low-wage immigrant labor?
Americans at the Margin
“Without intervention, the United States faces a potentially protracted economic recovery with persistently high unemployment if labor supply outpaces labor demand,” the proclamation says:
Excess labor supply affects all workers and potential workers, but it is particularly harmful to workers at the margin between employment and unemployment, who are typically “last in” during an economic expansion and “first out” during an economic contraction. In recent years, these workers have been disproportionately represented by historically disadvantaged groups, including African Americans and other minorities, those without a college degree, and the disabled. These are the workers who, at the margin between employment and unemployment, are likely to bear the burden of excess labor supply disproportionately..
Because foreign workers who are lawful permanent residents can take any job they wish, the proclamation says, “there is no way to protect already disadvantaged and unemployed Americans from the threat of competition for scarce jobs from new lawful permanent residents by directing those new residents to particular economic sectors with a demonstrated need not met by the existing labor supply.”
Moreover, more foreigners means a greater “strain on the finite limits of our healthcare system at a time when we need to prioritize Americans and the existing immigrant population.”
No Entry
Trump barred entry of aliens as immigrants in three categories:
• Those outside the United States as of April 22;
• Those without a valid visa as of April 22;
• Those without valid travel documents other than visas as of April 22.
The proclamation does not apply to lawful permanent residents of the United States, alien spouses or children of Americans, or foreign fat cats who want to enter the United States under the EB-5 investor visa.
Also permitted to enter will be aliens “seeking to enter the United States on an immigrant visa as a physician, nurse, or other healthcare professional; to perform medical research or other research intended to combat the spread of COVID-19; or to perform work essential to combating, recovering from, or otherwise alleviating the effects of the COVID-19 outbreak.”
Those foreign doctors and nurses can bring spouses and unmarried kids under 21.
Another exempt group: aliens “whose entry would further important United States law enforcement objectives” and those seeking entry with special immigrant visas, such as Iraqis and Afghans who work for the U.S. government.
Yet another cloudy exemption is “any alien whose entry would be in the national interest, as determined by the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Homeland Security, or their respective designees.”
Priority for Removal
Any alien who slips into the country with a fraudulently obtained visa, the proclamation says, “shall be a priority for removal,” which raises the question of how strictly the administration will enforce that provision because of the line that follows it.
Trump permits aliens “to seek asylum, refugee status, withholding of removal, or protection under the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, consistent with the laws of the United States.”
Trump will likely face the usual barrage of leftist lawsuits to block the order given the targets of the proclamation, legal immigrants, and that subversive judges have repeatedly enjoined Trump’s past efforts to stem the flow of illegal aliens.
Trump signed the order hours before the Labor Department announced last week’s tally of unemployment claims: 4,427,000.
The figure is lower than the week before, but yet another sign that the virus and the imprudent reaction to it hasn’t finished eviscerating the economy.
The news from Labor means Trump’s order — which will at least temporarily stop foreigners from taking jobs from Americans — is all the more important.
Image: alexskopje/iStock/Getty Images Plus
R. Cort Kirkwood is a long-time contributor to The New American and a former newspaper editor.
