Virus hands immigration victory to Trump
IN late February this year, United States President Donald Trump predicted that the number of coronavirus disease 2019 ( Covid- 19) cases in the US would go down to zero.
By April 28, confronted by his failed prediction as cases in the US zoomed to more than a million and America first pole-vaulted to the top of the list of countries with Covid-19 deaths and cases, Mr., Trump simply said, “It will go down to zero, ultimately.”
The WashingtonPost reported that since the deadly disease outbreak and the World Health Organization declaring it a pandemic, the US president has predicted the coronavirus would go away.
Despite his public announcements that the virus would go away — “ultimately” — Trump actually wants the virus to stay, at least until after the election and, if possible, for the next four years. Why?
Because the coronavirus has virtually stopped immigration, legal or otherwise, an achievement that could not have happened even if the promised wall of Mexico were built and asylum applicants deported back to their countries of origin en masse.
From the list of major campaign promises, stopping immigration as it was before he occupied the White House, was the only one that Trump could claim victory for.
There were other promises that were partially delivered, but these issues were less red meat to the Republican president’s support base.
At the end of his four- year term and gunning for another four years, Trump had delivered on tax cuts in December 2017; took the US out of the Paris deal on climate change; changed the judicial bench, actually picking 20 judges who “respect the Second Amendment,” the right to carry arms; moved the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem after formally recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
Trump has also somewhat delivered on getting out of “disastrous” trade deals like North American Free Trade Agreement and the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, a proposed trade agreement between Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam and the US signed on Feb. 4, 2016.
A partial ( no pun intended) delivery of a campaign promise to build a wall and insisting that Mexico will pay for it could — by a stretch — be notched under Trump’s winning column.
Before June, 194 miles of what could be described as wall system had been built, although most of the construction were to shore up dilapidated or outdated designs of the barrier already in place. Okay, only three miles of new walls were actually built, but promise delivered, nonetheless.
Another four- year term augurs well of concrete results.
A wall contractor and Republican donor — Fisher Industries — was awarded the largest wall contract with direct backing from the US president: a $1.3-billion deal to build 42 miles of black-painted fencing through the rugged mountains of southern Arizona.
None of the campaign promises, however, delivered in full decibels as “ending mass immigration.”
While repeating his claim that coronavirus “would go away by April” it could be argued that Trump would rather have Covid19 around for a while longer. And with good reasons.
The Muslim travel ban did not go well. And even if it did, only a handful of countries were covered by it.
On Jan. 27, 2017, Mr. Trump issued an executive order that banned foreign nationals from seven predominantly Muslim countries from visiting the US for 90 days, suspended entry to the country of all Syrian refugees indefinitely, as well as prohibited any other refugees from coming into the country for 120 days.
After a series of court skirmishes, the US Supreme Court upheld President Trump’s order in a 5-4 decision overruling legal challenges from the lower courts.
Although the ban affected the issuance of visas and admission of nationals from these countries, the reduction of migrants from Muslim- dominated countries were not large enough for tweets in capital letters.
In April 2019, three Republican senators reintroduced legislation aimed at reducing overall immigration levels to limit low- skilled workers from entering the country, with the secondary effect of boosting wages by American workers.
Senators Tom Cotton of Arkansas, David Perdue of Georgia and Josh Hawley of Missouri authored the Reforming American Immigration for Strong Employment (Raise) Act. A major feature of the Raise bill is replacing the current employment-visa framework with a points-based system similar to the Canadian and Australian systems, prioritizing skills- based system that would admit immigrants who are “more educated, speak English and show a record of achievement or entrepreneurial initiative.”
With the Democratic Party in control of the House of Representatives after the 2018 elections, even the Republicandominated Senate could not raise the bill from the dead.
Enter the “kung- flu” as Trump refers to Covid- 19, which he also alternately refers to as the
“Chinese virus.”
Reflecting the Stephen Miller mindset, Trump took the virus by its corona and twistedit to his advantage. The moves came cascading just months apart.
On March 13, 2020, President Trump issued Proclamation 9994 declaring a “National Emergency Concerning the Novel Coronavirus Disease Outbreak.”
Noting that Covid- 19 “has taken a toll on the United States economy, with national unemployment claims reaching historic levels, Mr. Trump issued Proclamation 10014 on April 22, 2020 to protect American workers from immigrants who would be competing for and taking away employment opportunities from more than 22 million Americans who were then unemployed.
The intent wa s clearly Trumpian with Steve Bannon and Miller origins.
“Lawful permanent residents once admitted are granted ‘ openmarket’ employment authorization documents, allowing them immediate eligibility to compete for almost any job, in any sector of the economy. There is no way to protect already disadvantaged and unemployed Americans from the threat of competition for scarce jobs from new lawful permanent residents by directing those new residents to particular economic sectors with a demonstrated need not met by the existing labor supply.”
Immigrants are portrayed as the cancer of American society.
The title of the order proclaims Miller time has arrived with a bang: “Proclamation Suspending Entry of Immigrants Who Present Risk to the US Labor Market During the Economic Recovery Following the Covid-19 Outbreak.”
The preface has a healthy dose of concern about the significant reduction of the livelihood of Americans.
Furthermore, Mr. Trump’s order explains that “introducing additional permanent residents when our health care resources are limited puts strain on the finite limits of our health care system at a time when we need to prioritize Americans and the existing immigrant population.”
In light of the crisis that new immigrants will create, Mr. Trump “determined that the entry, during the next 60 days, of certain aliens as immigrants would be detrimental to the interests of the United States.”
Before the 60- day deadline was up, Trump issued a follow- up order adding certain nonimmigrant work visas to the list of immigrants banned from entering the US: those coming on H- 1B, H- 2B, L and J visas.
If the September jobs report continues to show jobs are coming back, the secondcoming of the grandson of German immigrants seems to be certain thanks to coronavirus, Trump’s crowning glory that ran on the backs of immigrants.