#White House working to extend coronavirus immigration policies

WASHINGTON — Officials in the Trump administration are working to extend the executive order on “emergency” immigration measures introduced at the peak of the coronavirus crisis — restricting many employment-based visas until the fall, according to a new report.

The move would cement policies that have limited a number of visas issued to immigrants seeking temporary work in the US and made it easier for immigration judges to reject applications for asylum, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Restrictions are expected to be placed on employment-based visas including the H-1B skilled-worker visa until October, banning any new H-1B holder from entering the country until then, the report said.

It’s unclear if a measure significantly reducing the number of Green Cards being issued will continue.

The proposals are part of a move by the administration to reduce the number of foreign workers and potentially-infected people from entering the country as it faces a long economic recovery from the coronavirus.

The White House’s chief immigration adviser Stephen Miller has also reportedly pushed President Trump significantly reduce the number of foreign workers entering the country, the New York Times reported.

A draft of the executive order obtained by the Times suggests that Trump will be able to extend immigration restrictions indefinitely amid the public health crisis.

“I am extending the duration of the order until I determine that the danger of further introduction of Covid-19 into the United States has ceased to be a danger to the public health,” the draft reads.

Many programs will remain in place allowing seasonal workers to continue staffing at the nation’s farms and meatpacking plants, which rely on immigrant workers.

Trump in April denied suggestions that he was using the pandemic to restrict legal immigration, instead emphasizing the need to protect US jobs, with tens of millions of Americans out of work.

“It would be wrong and unjust for Americans laid off by the virus to be replaced with new immigrant labor flown in from abroad,” he said.