Washington, D.C. — Today, President Donald Trump announced that he will temporarily suspend some new immigration to the United States, citing as the reason for his decision the protection of American jobs as the country reopens after the pandemic. The immigration ban will last 60 days and apply only to people seeking permanent residency in the country, including families looking to reunite—not to people entering for business or pleasure or on temporary guest worker visas.
In response to the president’s remarks, Neera Tanden, CEO of the Center for American Progress Action Fund, issued the following statement:
Once again, the president of the United States blames others for his absolute failure to effectively manage the biggest public health crisis in modern history. Weeks ago, he told us that he accepts no responsibility for his failures, and now he is returning to a familiar tactic—targeting immigrants and keeping families apart.
The forthcoming executive order is clearly not motivated by a concern for public health or American workers. Instead, this new attack is just another malevolent distraction from his poor management and complete negligence, which has led to the United States being the world leader in confirmed coronavirus cases and deaths. While President Trump moves to stoke fear of people from other countries, the reality is that the United States today is a net exporter of the coronavirus, having contributed to its spread in multiple countries in the Western Hemisphere through the administration’s reckless detention and deportation practices. Instead of managing this and saving lives, he accepts no responsibility whatsoever and is now pushing governors and local authorities to reopen the country even against his own public health guidance.
President Trump needs to stop blaming other people and take responsibility for this crisis. He ought to focus on solving the shortfalls on testing, ensuring contact tracing, providing personal protective equipment to health care workers, and giving treatment to everyone despite their immigration status. Only then we can finally start to overcome this emergency.
For more information or to speak with an expert, please contact Claudia Montecinos at [email protected]
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