Trump announced his intentions with a tweet late Monday evening that he intends to sign an executive order suspending immigration to the United States. He said the move to suspend immigration is needed to safeguard American jobs and defend the country from the pandemic, calling coronavirus “the Invisible Enemy.”
“In light of the attack from the Invisible Enemy, as well as the need to protect the jobs of our GREAT American Citizens, I will be signing an Executive Order to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States!” the president wrote.
The president has broad authority to restrict entry into the United States and a point the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed in upholding his controversial travel ban in 2018, and that power is perhaps no greater than during a public health emergency.
As usual, there is no by-partisan support from the Democrats as Sen. Tim Kaine, (D-VA), Democrats’ 2016 vice presidential nominee, called it a “pathetic attempt to shift blame from his Visible Incompetence to an Invisible Enemy.”
In response to Democratic opposition, Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) said, “Wow! One thing about @realDonaldTrump, he knows how to put American citizens first!” And Rep. Paul Gosar, (R-AZ), wrote, Thank you, @realDonaldTrump! All immigration to the United States should halt until every American who wants a job has one!”
An administration official said the ban “had been under consideration for a while,” while a senior administration official said Trump could sign the executive order as early as this week.
