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Biden revokes Trump order barring green card applicants and temporary foreign workers
Former President Donald Trump issued the bans last year, saying they were needed to protect US workers amid high unemployment due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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President Joe Biden speaks as he makes a statement at the South Court Auditorium at Eisenhower Executive Building February 10, 2021 in Washington, DC. President Biden made a statement on the coup in Burma. (Agence France Presse/Alex Wong/Getty Images)
U
S President Joe Biden on Wednesday revoked a proclamation from his predecessor that blocked many green card applicants and temporary foreign workers from entering the United States.
Former President Donald Trump issued the bans last year, saying they were needed to protect US workers amid high unemployment due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Bloomberg reported that Biden withdrew an executive order that used the coronavirus pandemic to halt the issuance of new green cards, a move that drastically cut legal immigration to the US. Trump -- who unveiled the changes after originally tweeting that he would act to prohibit “immigration into our Country” -- had argued the measures were necessary to protect the American economy as it recovered from the pandemic.
“To the contrary, it harms the United States, including by preventing certain family members of United States citizens and lawful permanent residents from joining their families here,” Biden said in a presidential proclamation. “It also harms industries in the United States that utilize talent from around the world.”
Biden had come under intense pressure from immigrant rights advocates to rescind Trump’s immigration bans, which were set to expire at the end of March. Groups that favored lower levels of immigration said they were essential for protecting US workers.
The president’s proclamation, however, did not revoke a different set of Trump’s pandemic-related restrictions on certain temporary worker visas, including H-1Bs, which technology companies use to hire coders and engineers from other countries. Business groups called on Biden to immediately lift those bans and leaders have grown frustrated that they have not yet been revoked, arguing the policies hurt US companies.
Restrictions on guest-worker visas, which also cover non-agricultural seasonal laborers, au pairs and others, have been under review by the Biden administration and are due to expire at the end of March.
Biden also eliminated Trump’s effort to identify cities he claimed were “permitting anarchy, violence and destruction” following anti-police brutality protests last summer, some of which involved violence and property destruction. Trump sought to cut federal funding to New York City, Seattle and Portland, Oregon.
