Throughout the past few weeks, President Trump and his administration have made several changes to the US immigration policies. One of which is an executive order that puts a hold on any new green cards being issued. His idea is to protect current American workers that were left unemployed. He believes that by doing this he offers an opportunity for Americans to be first in line for any job opportunities as soon as the economy reopens. The signing of the order wasn’t an impulsive decision made solely by Trump. Members of his administration had urged him to take action to reduce the constant flow of immigration into the US.

With an executive order like this being signed, there will always be some pushback from the media. The media is speculating that the main reason for the order is so that president Trump can further his agenda for limiting immigration altogether. As health experts have assured that these restrictions would do little to help stop the spread of coronavirus, as the U.S. has already had a large spread of the virus. Trump insisted that the main goal of the order was to protect the economy as much as possible after all the damage that has been done during the coronavirus pandemic.  With 22 million American fillings for unemployment, this is roughly the highest unemployment rate America has seen to date.

But with the new immigration policy, there are off course some exceptions. All essential workers such as medical personal as well as members of the defense force are exempt from the policy. It also does not apply to immigrants that are already in the United States, or for anyone looking to obtain a temporary visa, including students or guest workers such as farmers. The current policy is set to last 60 days at which the president will revalue it and its necessity when the 60 days have passed. Trump has also stated that the administration is looking to sign a second order limiting immigration further but has not provided any details as to what that order would entail.

There has been some criticism from the public questioning the motives behind the order. It has become clear that with the new policies in place it would help the American citizens economically once we get through the current pandemic. Recent studies have shown that American citizens do stand behind the current order to restrict immigration during the crisis. The president has a duty to ensure that Americans are able to obtain employment and this is the first step in doing that.