Trump To Sign Executive Order Temporarily Suspending H-1B And Other Work Visas

TOPLINE

President Trump is set to sign an executive order on Monday that will bar the entry of immigrant workers on a slate of employment-based visas including the H-1B for high-skilled workers till the end of the calendar year, senior administration officials said, claiming that the move will reallocate about 500,000 jobs to out-of-work Americans.

KEY FACTS

Key Background

In April, the president signed an executive order that suspended the issuance of green cards to foreigners looking to live in the United States for 60 days, but he stopped short of imposing limits on worker visas, which brought criticism from hardline anti-immigration groups, which are a key constituency for the president. Stephen Miller, the president’s chief adviser on immigration, has for years pushed to limit or eliminate the worker visas, arguing that they harm employment prospects for Americans. In May, nine Republican senators, including Lindsey Graham and John Cornyn, wrote to the president urging him to reconsider broad new restrictions on temporary work-visa programs, which the senators said would ultimately hurt U.S. businesses. Congressional Democrats had been more scathing, with House Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., tweeting that President Trump was the “Xenophobe. In. Chief.” A Washington Post-University of Maryland poll published in April found 65% of Americans supported a temporary halt on nearly all immigration during the pandemic, with 34% opposed. Republicans and independents support such restrictions by a significant margin, the poll found, while Democrats were divided on the issue.