U.S. Senator asks Trump to reverse order on green card, speed up H-1B visas for healthcare workers

“The Trump administration’s announcement of a temporary halt to immigration is the opposite of what is necessary for the health and safety of our country at this time, said Senator Michael Bennet in a letter.

April 25, 2020 01:43 pm | Updated 01:43 pm IST - Washington

On April 22, U.S. President Trump signed the executive order to suspend certain types of immigration into the U.S. for 60 days.

On April 22, U.S. President Trump signed the executive order to suspend certain types of immigration into the U.S. for 60 days.

A top American Senator has urged President Donald Trump to reverse his executive order to suspend the issuance of green cards for 60 days and sought fast-tracking of the H-1B visas for foreign workers to meet the surging demand for healthcare professionals due to the coronavirus pandemic in the country.

On Wednesday, President Trump signed the executive order to suspend certain types of immigration into the U.S. for 60 days to protect the jobs of Americans laid off due to the COVID-19 pandemic that has ravaged the country’s economy.

The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows U.S. companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise.

Also read:Analysis | Trump has taken his administration’s war on immigration to the next level

“The Trump administration’s announcement of a temporary halt to immigration is the opposite of what is necessary for the health and safety of our country at this time, said Senator Michael Bennet in his first letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Department of Homeland Security Acting Secretary Chad Wolf.

“The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the Department of State must immediately work to expedite the processing of visa petitions of healthcare professionals and provide them with more flexibility to practice in specialties or locations where they are most needed, Mr. Bennet, a Democrat, said.

In the second letter, Mr. Bennet called on Mr. Trump to reverse the executive order he issued on Wednesday suspending the issuance of new green cards to the United States for at least 60 days.

The temporary suspension of immigration will affect those who are legally seeking entry into the U.S. for employment purposes but not the ones who are already living in the country, the order said.

Current regulations may force healthcare workers to suspend their work and even leave the country if their visa expires. Additionally, individuals who hold H-1B visas often cannot practice outside of specialties and locations designated by their sponsor.

Since the H-1B visa is tied with the specific speciality for which they are issued, a doctor with this visa cannot be roped in for any other public health programme or temporarily transferred or posted to another place.

Each of these regulations undermines the country’s healthcare workforce when it is already under tremendous strain due to the pandemic, he said.

‘Regulations against immigrant tradition of country’

The use of a global public health crisis to promote an anti-immigration agenda goes against the immigrant tradition upon which this country was built, Mr. Bennet wrote in the second letter.

“More than 25% of all doctors and 17% of all healthcare workers are immigrants...instead of honouring our nation’s proud immigrant heritage, the administration has placed countless lives at risk in the interest of amplifying its anti-immigration agenda,” he wrote.

Nearly 40% of all medical/life scientists in this country, many of whom are researching the remedies to the very virus that has caused this pandemic, are foreign-born, he said. Additionally, over 30% of all agricultural workers, 17% of all grocery and supermarket workers, and over 18% of all food delivery workers are foreign-born. These individuals deserve our warmest praise and support, not policies that will incite fear and harm their families, friends, or communities. We shouldn’t be making it harder for them to be with their loved ones during this difficult time, Mr. Bennet said.

The executive order, he said, follows a broader set of anti-immigrant policies from the Trump administration.

Previously, the administration had suspended routine visa processing at U.S. consulates and embassies abroad, closed the borders with Canada and Mexico to non-essential travel, and postponed court dates for migrants in the Migrant Protection Protocol programme.

Over the first two weeks of April, the U.S. deported almost 3,000 individuals, even as the country continued to have the highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, he said.

Requesting Mr. Trump to reverse the executive order, the Senator demanded that his administration halt all anti-immigration policies that are harmful to public health and safety.

These policies won’t undo the administration’s failures to address the pandemic earlier and more aggressively. Further limitations on immigration will only bring insecurity to immigrant families resulting in greater uncertainty and economic harm to the U.S., he said.

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