Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Trump extends green card ban until year’s end

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WASHINGTON — The Trump administra­tion on Monday extended a ban on green cards issued outside the United States until the end of the year and added many temporary work visas to the freeze, including those used heavily by technology companies and multinatio­nal corporatio­ns.

The administra­tion cast the effort as a way to free up jobs in an economy reeling from the coronaviru­s. A senior official who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity predicted it will open up to 525,000 jobs for Americans.

The ban, while temporary, would amount to major restructur­ing of legal immigratio­n if made permanent — a goal that had eluded the administra­tion before the pandemic. Long-term changes that would prevent many asylum seekers from getting work permits and would allocate high-tech worker visas differentl­y are also being sought.

Business groups pressed hard to limit the changes but got little of what they wanted, marking a victory for immigratio­n hardliners as President Donald Trump seeks to further solidify their support ahead of the November election.

The ban on new visas, which takes effect Wednesday, applies to H-1B visas, which are widely used by major American and Indian technology company workers and their families; H-2B visas for nonagricul­tural seasonal workers; J-1 visas for cultural exchanges; and L1 visas for managers and other key employees of multinatio­nal corporatio­ns.

There will be exemptions for food processing workers, which make up about 15% of H-2B visas, the official said. Health care workers assisting with the coronaviru­s fight will continue to be spared from the green-card freeze, though their exemption will be narrower.

“In the administra­tion of our Nation’s immigratio­n system, we must remain mindful of the impact of foreign workers on the United States labor market, particular­ly in the current extraordin­ary environmen­t of high domestic unemployme­nt and depressed demand for labor,” Mr. Trump wrote in his presidenti­al proclamati­on.

Mr. Trump imposed a 60-day ban on green cards issued abroad in

April, which was set to expire Monday. That announceme­nt, which largely targeted family members, drew a surprising­ly chilly reception from immigratio­n hardliners, who said the president didn’t go far enough.

The new steps to include non-immigrant visas went a long toward appeasing hardliners.

“This is a bold move by the Trump administra­tion to protect American jobs,” said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigratio­n Studies, which advocates for restrictio­ns. “Not all the items on our checklist of needed actions are included in today’s announceme­nt, but the corporate lobbyists who were desperatel­y fighting for exceptions to protect their clients’ access to cheap foreign labor have largely been rebuffed.”

Thomas J. Donohue, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s CEO, said the measures will harm, not help, the economy.

“Putting up a ‘not welcome’ sign for engineers, executives, IT experts, doctors, nurses and other workers won’t help our country, it will hold us back,” he said. “Restrictiv­e changes to our nation’s immigratio­n system will push investment and economic activity abroad, slow growth, and reduce job creation.”

BSA, a group that represents major software companies, urged the administra­tion to reconsider, particular­ly changes to the H-1B program, saying they will hinder economic recovery by making it harder to fill critical positions.

“Filling these roles that are more abundant than the number of U.S. employees qualified to fill them means these jobs can be kept in the U.S.,” the group said. “This allows companies based in the U.S. to remain globally competitiv­e, which in turn boosts the U.S. economy, creating jobs for millions of Americans.”

The freezes on visas issued abroad are designed to take effect immediatel­y. Other changes, including restrictio­ns on work permits for asylum seekers, will go through a formal rule-making process that takes months.

The administra­tion is proposing a new way of awarding H-1B visas, the official said, awarding them by highest salary instead of by lottery.

H-1B visas are capped at 85,000 a year for people with “highly specialize­d knowledge” and a minimum of a bachelor’s degree, often in science, technology, engineerin­g, teaching and accounting. Critics say hightech companies have used the visas as a tool to outsource jobs to foreigners, replacing Americans.

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