How the Pandemic Fuels U.S. Debate Over Immigration
Long before the U.S. tightened its borders to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus, as many countries did, President Donald Trump set about reshaping America’s immigration system with a nationalist and isolationist bent.
Long before the U.S. tightened its borders to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus, as many countries did, President Donald Trump set about reshaping America’s immigration system with a nationalist and isolationist bent. Promises to crack down on illegal immigration and erect a wall along the Mexican border formed the centerpiece of his election campaign in 2016. The coronavirus pandemic, he has said, has strengthened his desire to further restrict access to the U.S. Joe Biden, Trump’s presumed opponent in the 2020 presidential race, by contrast, embraces immigration as fundamental to the national character in a country where 99% of citizens trace their roots to somewhere else.
The president announced by tweet April 20 that he planned to sign an executive order temporarily suspending immigration into the U.S. in response to the pandemic and to protect American jobs. Trump had already imposed broad travel restrictions on China, Europe, Canada and Mexico to curb the virus’s spread, and the State Department temporarily suspended routine visa services at embassies and consulates.