Applications of foreign nationals seeking permanent residence in the US will be suspended because of the coronavirus crisis, President Donald Trump said.
A day after he announced the move in an ambiguous tweet, President Trump said the measure would protect American jobs.
It is not clear how effective it will be as most visa services have already been suspended because of the coronavirus outbreak.
Critics say President Trump is trying to distract attention away from his response to the virus. The US has nearly 45,000 deaths.
Democrats also accuse the Trump administration of using the pandemic to crack down on immigration. The issue has traditionally been a strong campaigning theme for President Trump, a Republican, but has taken a back seat during the crisis and in the lead-up to the November election.
At a White House coronavirus briefing, President Trump said the executive order with the decision was likely to be signed on April 22. The ban could be extended “much longer” depending on how the economy was doing, he said.
After vowing to suspend “all immigration” to the US on April 20, President Trump apparently changed his original plan after a backlash from some business leaders. It would reportedly impact immigrants given temporary working visas, like farm laborers and hi-tech employees.
More than 20 million Americans have lost their jobs amid the coronavirus outbreak, and President Trump said the government had a “solemn duty” to ensure they regain their jobs.
He said: “It would be wrong and unjust for Americans laid off by the virus to be replaced with new immigrant labor flown in from abroad.”
The president added that there could be some exemptions to the measure.
He also said: “We want to protect our US workers and I think as we move forward we will become more and more protective of them.”
President Trump’s order could spark legal challenges.
The US has the highest number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in the world – more than 820,000 – according to Johns Hopkins University, which is tracking the disease globally.
Green cards give immigrants legal permanent residence in the US and the opportunity to apply for American citizenship.
In a typical year, nearly one million green cards are issued in the US. The majority – roughly 70% – go to those with relatives living in the US, according to a 2018 report from the US Senate. For employment-based green cards, a common form of the residency status, roughly 80% are issued to those already in the country, shifting from a temporary visa to permanent residence.
A district judge in Oregon has
temporarily blocked a rule proposed by President Donald Trump that would
require immigrants to prove they will have health insurance within 30 days of
arrival in the US, or can pay for medical care.
Judge Michael Simon granted a
preliminary injunction against the proposal.
A lawsuit opposing the rule has been
filed by 7 American citizens and an NGO.
They argued it would block hundreds
of thousands of legal migrants.
According to the lawsuit, the number
of immigrants who enter the US with family-sponsored visas would drop
considerably, or be eliminated altogether.
Judge Michael Simon said the
potential damage to families justified a US-wide ban.
“Facing a likely risk of being separated from their
family members and a delay in obtaining a visa to which family members would
otherwise be entitled is irreparable harm,” his legal order read.
Would-be immigrants had been
struggling to establish how to get the required insurance coverage. The US
healthcare system is complex, and has not generally catered to people yet to
arrive there.
The healthcare immigration proclamation is part of President Trump’s effort to shift the US away from a family-focused immigration system.
Judge Michael Simon’s 28-day
temporary restraining order will prevent the rule from coming into effect on November
3, but the legal battle is likely to continue.
The Trump administration has argued
that legal immigrants are about three times more likely to lack health
insurance than US citizens, and that taxpayers should not bear their medical
costs.
However, US policy experts say
immigrants are less likely to use the healthcare system than American citizens.
According to a research from George Washington University, recent immigrants without insurance made up less than a tenth of 1% of US medical fees in 2017.
President Trump has hailed a deal
reached with Mexico to help stem the flow of migrants to the US after he
threatened to impose trade tariffs.
Under the deal, in which Mexico
agreed to take “unprecedented steps”, the duties that were due to
come into effect on June 10 have been suspended.
Donald Trump said: “Mexico will try very hard, and if they
do that, this will be a very successful agreement.”
There were fears that the tariffs
could hurt US businesses and consumers.
Under President Trump’s proposal,
duties would have risen by 5% every month on goods including cars, beer,
tequila, fruit and vegetables until they hit 25% in October.
The deal was reached at the end of
three days of negotiations which saw Washington demand a crackdown on Central
American migrants.
In a joint declaration released by
the US state department, the two countries said Mexico would take
“unprecedented steps” to curb irregular migration and human
trafficking.
However, it seems the US did not get
one of its reported key demands, which would have required Mexico to take in
asylum seekers heading for the US and process their claims on its own soil.
Under the deal, Mexico agreed to deploy
its National Guard throughout the country from June 10, pledging up to 6,000
additional troops along Mexico’s southern border with Guatemala. It will also take
“decisive action” to tackle human smuggling networks.
The US agreed to expand its program
of sending asylum seekers back to Mexico while they await reviews of their
claims. In return, the US will “work to accelerate” the adjudication
process.
Both countries pledged to
“strengthen bilateral co-operation” over border security, including
“co-ordinated actions” and information sharing.
The declaration added that discussions would continue, and final terms would
be accepted and announced within 90 days.
Should Mexico’s actions “not have the expected results”, the
agreement warned that additional measures could be taken but did not specify
what these would be.
In one of a series of tweets about the deal, President Trump quoted National
Border Patrol Council president Brandon Judd as saying: “That’s going to be a huge deal because Mexico will be using their
strong Immigration Laws – A game changer. People no longer will be released
into the U.S.”
Mexican Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard told journalists: “I think it was a fair balance, because
they have more drastic measures and proposals at the start, and we have reached
some middle point.”
Speaking at a separate news conference, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin
said “we couldn’t be more pleased with the agreement”.
President Trump caught members of his own party unaware when he announced the proposed tariffs last week.
According to recent reports, President Donald Trump has lashed out at immigrants in a foul-mouthed Oval Office outburst that a UN spokesman later condemned as “shocking”, “shameful” and “racist”.
President Trump reportedly asked lawmakers during talks on an immigration deal: “Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?”
According to reports, the president was apparently referring to Haiti, El Salvador and African countries.
However, the White House made no attempt to deny the comment.
In recent weeks, the Trump administration has been trying to limit the number of family members of immigrants who can enter the United States, and has moved to end the protected status of thousands of immigrants already in the US.
President Trump’s reported remark came as lawmakers from both parties visited him on January 11 to propose a bipartisan immigration deal.
According to media, Democratic Senator Richard Durbin had just been discussing US temporary residency permits granted to citizens of countries hit by natural disasters, war or epidemics.
Meanwhile, the Washington Post reported that President Trump told lawmakers the US should instead be taking in migrants from countries like Norway, whose prime minister visited him a day earlier.
The newspaper quoted the president as saying: “Why do we need more Haitians? Take them out.”
South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham was in January 11 meeting at the White House, but would not comment on the president’s reported slur.
A statement from White House spokesman Raj Shah said: “Certain Washington politicians choose to fight for foreign countries, but President Trump will always fight for the American people.
“Like other countries that have merit-based immigration, President Trump is fighting for permanent solutions that make our country stronger by welcoming those who can contribute to our society, grow our economy and assimilate into our great nation.
“He will always reject temporary, weak and dangerous stopgap measures that threaten the lives of hardworking Americans, and undercut immigrants who seek a better life in the United States through a legal pathway.”
In response, UN human rights spokesman Rupert Colville said: “If confirmed these are shocking and shameful comments from the president of the United States, I’m sorry but there is no other word for this but racist.”
The UN official spoke of a 2016 presidential campaign speech in which Donald Trump called Mexican immigrants criminals and rapists, and to his response last year to a white supremacist march that ended in violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, when the president said “both sides” were to blame.
Rupert Colville said such comments went against “universal values the world has been striving for” since the end of World War Two, and opened “the door to humanity’s worst side”.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) accused President Trump of falling “deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole of racism and xenophobia”.
Mia Love, a Utah Republican and the only Haitian-American in Congress, demanded President Trump apologize for the “unkind, divisive, elitist” comments.
The Washington Post broke the story with the word “shithole” in its headline and in the alert that the newspaper sent out to followers’ smartphones.
Fox News used asterisks to obscure the offensive word along the bottom of the screen, but CNN and MSNBC carried it in full.
Lawmakers reportedly proposed restoring so-called Temporary Protected Status (TPS) permits for certain countries, allowing their residents leave to remain in the United States because their home countries are temporarily unsafe for them.
In return, they were said to have offered $1.5 billion for a wall that President Trump wants built on the US border with Mexico.
This week the Trump administration announced it was withdrawing TPS for more than 200,000 people from El Salvador.
The decision gives Salvadoreans who have been living in the US for nearly three decades until next year to leave, seek lawful residency or face possible deportation.
People from El Salvador were granted provisional US residency after an earthquake devastated the Central American country in 2001.
President Donald Trump has announced a “big day” on national security, including an announcement to build a wall on the border between the US and Mexico.
He is expected to sign several executive orders regarding immigration and border security over the next few days.
The executive orders are likely to include the “extreme vetting” of people coming from seven predominantly Muslim countries in the Middle East and Africa.
This would restrict refugee access.
Donald Trump tweeted on January 24: “Big day planned on national security tomorrow. Among many other things, we will build the wall!”
Image source Flickr
Building a 2,000-mile wall along the Mexican border was one of Donald Trump’s key proposals during the presidential election campaign.
There will also be measures that force so-called sanctuary cities in the US to co-operate with the authorities on deporting illegal immigrants.
“Sanctuary cities” are places that don’t arrest or detain immigrants living in the country illegally.
Later this week, Donald Trump is expected to announce immigration restrictions from seven African and Middle Eastern countries, including Syria, Yemen, and Iraq.
President Trump is also likely to halt access to the country for some refugees – until the vetting process can be made more rigorous.
He also took to Twitter to express his concern about the level of violence in Chicago.
Donald Trump threatened to “send in the Feds” – federal authorities – if the city did not “fix the horrible carnage” taking place.
Local media has said that more than 40 people have been murdered and 228 shot so far in 2017.
Shah Rukh Khan has been “detained” by US authorities at Los Angeles International Airport.
It is not clear why the Bollywood star was detained, or for how long.
The US ambassador to India has apologized for the detention and said authorities were working to ensure it did not happen again.
In 2012, Shah Rukh Khan was detained for 90 minutes at the White Plains airport near New York.
Shah Rukh Khan’s detention by US authorities for 90 minutes at White Plains airport near New York has sparked outrage in India
In 2009, the actor was stopped for two hours at Newark airport. He was released after India’s embassy intervened.
Shah Rukh Khan, who flew into Los Angeles on August 12, tweeted: “I fully understand & respect security with the way the world is, but to be detained at US immigration every damn time really really sucks.”
However, the actor added: “The brighter side is while waiting caught some really nice Pokemons.”
Although there was no comment from immigration officials, the US State Department’s assistant secretary on south and central Asian affairs, Nisha Biswal, tweeted to Shah Rukh Khan, saying she was “sorry for the hassle”, adding that US diplomats also face this situation.
Later, the US ambassador to India, Rich Verma, apologized to Shah Rukh Khan.
In 2012, Shah Rukh Khan arrived on a private plane and was on his way to Yale University for a function when he was stopped.
An Indian government minister said at the time that this “policy of detention and apology by the US cannot continue”.
US customs and border protection authorities later expressed “profound” apologies for the incident.
Shah Rukh Khan had later made light of the incident and joked about it.
“Whenever I start feeling arrogant about myself, I always take a trip to America. The immigration guys kick the star out of stardom,” the Bollywood star told a gathering of students at Yale University.
Shah Rukh Khan has appeared in more than 70 films and is considered one of India’s most recognizable and popular celebrities.
A Donald Trump rally in New Mexico has been hit by violent protests with demonstrators throwing burning T-shirts and bottles and clashing with police.
Riot police fired smoke grenades into the crowd. Protesters also interrupted Donald Trump’s speech at the rally in Albuquerque.
Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, wants a wall to be built along the border with Mexico.
New Mexico is the most Hispanic state in the US.
The protesters had gathered outside the Albuquerque Convention Center, with banners that read “Trump is Fascist” and “We’ve heard enough”.
Photo Getty Images
According to the Albuquerque Journal, as the rally got under way, the crowd grew angry – throwing stones at police and trying to set fire to Trump T-shirts they had stolen from a seller.
In a series of tweets, Albuquerque police said bottles and rocks had been thrown at officers and police horses, and damage to a Convention Center window may have been caused by a pellet gun.
Speaking to a crowd of 4,000 people, Donald Trump was typically robust in his response to the protesters.
“How old is this kid?” he asked of one that disrupted the rally, adding: “Still wearing diapers.”
To others, the Republican candidate said: “Go home to mommy.”
Albuquerque is the first stop of Donald Trump’s tour of New Mexico.
Republican Governor Susana Martinez has been critical of Donald Trump’s attacks on immigrants and has not yet said if she will support his candidacy for the presidential election.
Susana Martinez and other senior members of the local Republican party stayed away from Tuesday’s rally.
The temporary hold on President Barack Obama’s plans to shield almost five million illegal immigrants from deportation has been backed by an federal court.
The hold was imposed after 26 states launched a legal challenge against the executive action, alleging it was unconstitutional.
The appeals court has now denied a government request to overturn it.
The White House said the action was essential to fix a “broken immigration system”.
Under the plans, announced in 2014, people who entered the US illegally as children and parents of children who are US citizens would be offered temporary protection from deportation.
Aside from arguing President Barack Obama acted outside his authority, the states say the move forces them to invest more in law enforcement, health care and education.
The 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling keeps the plans on hold while the states’ legal challenge proceeds.
It is not clear yet whether the Obama administration will appeal.
The Republican governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, who has been a persistent critic of the president’s immigration policies, tweeted: “The constitution wins.”
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