The President of the United States, Donald Trump, has decided to “temporarily” suspend immigration to the United States, referring to the “attack” caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
“In light of the attack by the invisible enemy, I will sign an executive order to temporarily suspend immigration to the United States,” Trump announced through his Twitter account.
It has also justified that it makes the decision “to protect the jobs” of the “excellent” American citizens.
At the moment, the US president has not provided more details on the measure, such as exactly how long the suspension will be extended.
Since the coronavirus pandemic erupted, Trump has carried out several actions that seek to isolate the country. Thus, in early February, it prohibited the entry to US territory to all foreigners who had been in China in the last 14 days.
Subsequently, in March, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) banned the entry of foreigners who could be considered a danger to public health. Also in March, and without prior notice, Trump suspended all trips to the North American country from continental Europe.
In this sense, this Monday, the United States, Canada and Mexico have agreed to extend the restrictions on their respective borders, in force since March 21, for one more month, which will only remain open for essential trips.
It is remarkable the effort carried out by Trump to isolate his country from the rest compared to the lax measures that his intramural Administration has taken to contain the Covid-19 pandemic.
Despite being the country hardest hit by the pandemic, the US president has upheld from the beginning his refusal to order confinement at the national level, against the criteria of experts and state governors.
In addition, he has remarked again and again his inclination to return to having the country in operation on May 1. So far, the United States has recorded 41,872 deaths from Covid-19, while positives exceed 783,000.
SUCCESSIVE ATTACKS ON IMMIGRATION
Likewise, Trump has attacked immigrants and migratory phenomena on multiple occasions, especially Central American and Latin American migrants. In fact, the star promise the U.S. president made in his 2016 election campaign was to build a wall between the United States and Mexico. It has not yet been fulfilled.
Trump has repeatedly criticized El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras for the caravans of thousands of their citizens heading to Mexico to try to cross the border into the United States.
The US Executive went so far as to speak of “invasion” and forced the sending countries and Mexico, a country of transit, to sign migration agreements to strengthen measures against illegal immigration under threat of withdrawing US aid and even imposing trade tariffs. .
Meanwhile, during his tenure, his Administration has taken steps to cut immigration and make it more difficult, such as the mass deportations of millions of migrants who are in the United States illegally. Also, the US government launched a reform that allows immigrant families to remain in detention indefinitely.
There are an estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants in the United States, arriving mainly from Mexico and Central America. US border authorities confirmed on April 9 of this year the deportation of 6,300 undocumented immigrants on the Mexican border.
