On April 22, 2020, Trump issued a presidential proclamation suspending the entry of certain immigrants into the United States—immigrants the administration alleges “present risk to the U.S. labor market during the economic recovery following the COVID-19 outbreak.” Unfortunately, this proclamation comes as no surprise, following Trump’s “immigration ban” tweet on April 20th and following growing questions and criticism about the administration’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The proclamation will go into effect at 11:59 PM (Eastern Time) tonight, April 23, 2020, and will be in effect for 60 days, with the option for the administration to amend or extend the proclamation as they see fit. Within 50 days from the effective date, the Secretaries of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Department of State (DOS), and Department of Labor (DOL) must recommend whether the administration should continue or modify the proclamation.
At present, the proclamation suspends and limits entry for anyone seeking to enter the U.S. as an immigrant who:
The following categories are exempted from the proclamation, and it will be within the discretion of the consular officer to determine if an individual is within one of these categories:
Anyone who circumvents the application of this proclamation through fraud, willful misrepresentation, or illegal entry will be prioritized for removal from the United States.
Of note:
It is also important to note that this does not change things much from where we already were because:
Although this is surely a sign of what is to come out of this administration in the months ahead, we must continue to stand together against this virus, and we must not allow this administration to polarize and divide us, to sow fear and mistrust, or to try to distract us from the priority of building a robust public health response so that we can get our society and economy back on track.
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