American Worker Through Executive Action
This week, President Trump took further steps to keep his promise to protect American jobs by issuing a proclamation to halt foreign worker visas until the end of the year. This action is an extension of the President’s executive order from May that suspended chain migration and the Diversity Visa Lottery for sixty days. However, President Trump decided to take even further steps to expand upon his original executive order.
The nation’s economy has soared since President Trump took office. Before the widespread lockdown in March, the Trump administration’s actions created a healthy economy with unemployment rates consistently falling. Once the pandemic began spreading, states forced businesses to close resulting in Americans losing their jobs. In order to open up jobs for those who are unemployed, the Trump administration began looking at stemming the flow of foreign workers who fill jobs that could otherwise be performed by Americans.
The first executive order only scratched the surface of providing opportunities for unemployed Americans. Conservative organizations and members of Congress quickly called on the Trump administration to expand this action. The President listened and presented a robust response on Monday.
In the expanded proclamation, the Department of Homeland Security must make reforms to the H-1B program. This program allows 85,000 foreign workers into the United States per year through a lottery system. Instead, those selected will be vetted through a merit-based system to ensure that individuals selected are truly the best and brightest. Those who are entering because of special occupations must also have advanced degrees.
Additionally, employers will be held accountable for any abuses of the immigration system. For example, in 2015, Disney laid off 250 tech employees who were forced to train their foreign replacements. Although the employees sued, they dropped their case due to the laws that protect those actions in the U.S. immigration system. More instances of this corrupt behavior is likely to occur during the current period of massive lay-offs. Because of those reasons, President Trump took action to protect Americans who want to keep their jobs.
Our close organizational ally, NumbersUSA, was pleased with the recent executive action. They stated:
“NumbersUSA applauds President Trump’s unprecedented Executive Order temporarily halting the entry of certain immigrants and guest workers. No previous administration in our lifetimes has recognized the imperative of slowing the importation of foreign workers during an unemployment crisis. For the more than 45 million Americans who have lost their jobs during this pandemic, this EO represents real opportunity to regain employment at a livable wage. Just as important, it represents an opportunity for American employers to broaden their recruitment efforts into historically underserved communities and prove that Americans will do those jobs.”
Eagle Forum commends President Trump for defending the livelihoods of all Americans. We hope that Congress will follow suit and codify these reforms permanently.
