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Donald Trump to sign order pausing Green Cards, Indians likely to be hit hardest
Indians, who have been the largest recipients of Green Cards in recent year, are likely to be hit the hardest by Donald Trump’s new order.
President Donald Trump will sign an executive order on Wednesday to suspend immigration — mostly impacting those applying for Green Cards — for the next 60 days to ensure Americans hits by record layoffs caused by the coronavirus outbreak have a first shot at all available jobs.
Indians, who have been the largest recipients of Green Cards in recent year, are likely to be hit the hardest by the new order.
“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 told reporters at the daily White House briefing on the status of the outbreak.
He added: “This order will only apply to individuals seeking a permanent residency. In other words, those receiving green cards -- a big factor -- it will not apply to those entering on a temporary basis.”
Short-term visas include H-1B, though he did not say, and tourism. They are exempted are some other categories, which he indicated, will be detailed in a subsequent order, which could include exemptions for humanitarian grounds in regards to the suspension of Green Cards.
The president also indicated he could consider “what additional immigration-related measures should be put in place to protect US workers” but did not expand.
People from India are the largest recipients of the these Green Cards. More than 1 million new immigrants are admitted to the United states every year, and India accounted for most with 126,000 in 2017, the latest such count available from a Pew research center study.
It was followed by Mexico (124,000), China (121,000) and Cuba (41,000). Overall, people from Mexico comprise the largest group of foreign-born US national in 2018 at 25%, followed by India and China, with 6% each, according to the same report
The president said he will review economic conditions at the end of the 60-day period to determine if he wants to extend the suspension or terminate it.
Nearly 22 million Americans have applied for unemployment benefits over the last four weeks and many more layoffs are feared as the economy teeters on the edge of the worst slowdown in US history, a situation compared by many economists to the Great Depression of 1929.
