On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump signed a new executive order that will cut U.S. immigration, albeit temporarily, on a scale not seen since he took office. The order extends a freeze on green card applicants outside the United States and now includes a range of temporary visas for seasonal workers and U.S. multinationals—especially tech firms.
In proclaiming the order, the White House cited a disputed claim, used often by the Trump administration, that foreign workers in the United States harm native workers. “We must remain mindful of the impact of foreign workers on the United States labor market, particularly in the current extraordinary environment of high domestic unemployment and depressed demand for labor,” the proclamation said.
The decision faced immediate criticism within Trump’s own Republican Party. “Those who believe legal immigration, particularly work visas, are harmful to the American worker do not understand the American economy,” Sen. Lindsey Graham wrote in a Twitter thread condemning the executive order. Graham said the visa shutdown would likely create “a drag on our economic recovery.”
Hundreds of thousands affected. The decision has the potential to affect hundreds of thousands of foreign workers, as well as disrupt hiring processes for U.S. companies. In 2018, the most recent year for which there are complete figures, over 500,000 green cards were granted to applicants not already living in the United States. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) reported 2.2 million employment authorization applications in 2019, and granted a further 500,000 visas for non-immigrant workers—who are now locked out due to the new executive order.
India worst hit. The decision to halt H1-B visas—traditionally used by large U.S. tech companies to hire workers from abroad—will hit Indian workers the most: Three out of four H1-B visa holders are Indian, according to a USCIS report.
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