President Donald Trump said that he will sign an executive order “to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States” because of the coronavirus.
“In light of the attack from the Invisible Enemy, as well as the need to protect the jobs of our GREAT American Citizens, I will be signing an Executive Order to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States!” Trump tweeted late Monday.
He offered no details about which immigration programs might be affected by the order.
National security adviser Robert O'Brien on Tuesday cast the president's announcement as a move to protect the American people's health. O'Brien said the temporary halt to immigration would not be “dissimilar” to limits on travel to the U.S. from China that Trump put in place in January.
“We're trying to do everything, the president's trying to do everything he can to put the health of the American people first during this crisis,” O'Brien said on Fox News Channel. “So this is one step. It's not dissimilar to the restrictions on travel from China that he implemented back on Jan. 29 at the very outset of this public health crisis.”
O'Brien said the administration believes those travel restrictions saved lives.
Asked about Trump's reference to jobs, O'Brien referenced the virus' economic toll.
“There’s been an economic cost here, too, and the president’s looking out for Americans on both fronts at every turn,” he said.
Trump has taken credit for his restrictions on travel to the U.S. from China and hard-hit European countries, arguing the restrictions contributed to slowing the spread of the virus in the U.S. But he has not extended those restrictions to other nations now experiencing virus outbreaks.
Due to the pandemic, almost all visa processing by the State Department, including immigrant visas, has been suspended for weeks.
Almost 800,000 Americans have come down with COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, and more than 42,000 have died, according to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
The Department of Justice has informed former Vice President Mike Pence 's legal team that it will not pursue criminal charges related to the discovery of classified documents at his Indiana home.
Fending off a U.S. default, the Senate gave final approval late Thursday to a debt ceiling and budget cuts package, grinding into the night to wrap up work on the bipartisan deal and send it to President Joe Biden's desk to become law before the fast-approaching deadline.
He wasn't hurt and later joked that he "got sandbagged."
Canada will soon become the first country in the world where warning labels must appear on individual cigarettes.
Vice President Kamala Harris said Thursday that federal agencies are taking new steps to stop racial discrimination in appraising home values by proposing a rule intended to ensure that the automated formulas used to price housing are fair.
Centrist Democrats and Republicans pushed it to approval over blowback from conservatives and some progressives. The Senate is expected to act quickly by the end of the week.
The Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that two state laws banning abortion are unconstitutional, but the procedure remains illegal in the state in nearly all cases except life-threatening situations.
A New York City police officer is speaking out against the use of “courtesy cards” by friends and relatives of his colleagues on the force, accusing department leaders of maintaining a sprawling system of impunity that lets people with a connection to law enforcement avoid traffic tickets.
A Pennsylvania restaurant owner who screamed death threats directed at then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi while storming the U.S. Capitol was sentenced on Tuesday to more than two years in prison.
Hard-fought to the end, the debt ceiling and budget cuts package is heading toward a crucial U.S. House vote as President Joe Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy assemble a coalition of centrist Democrats and Republicans to push it to passage over fierce blowback from conservatives and some progressive dissent.
