Trump Is Suspending Certain Visas For Foreign Workers

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The Trump administration on Monday announced that it will be suspending some employment-based visas for foreigners to protect American workers as the economy recovers from the coronavirus pandemic - a move derided by companies who say they need access to skilled labor that they can't get in the US.

The suspension, which will stay in place through the end of the year, will not immediately impact workers already in the US.

The executive order will suspend H-1B visas for specialized high-skill workers, most H-2B for nonagricultural seasonal workers, most J-1 visas for exchange visitors, and the L-1 visa used by companies to internally transfer foreign employees to the US, according to a senior Trump official who spoke with reporters on Monday.

Trump will also extend his April 22 order to temporarily ban green cards for certain groups of people outside the US. At the time, Trump was weighing whether to suspend visas and programs for foreign workers, but decided against it after business groups blasted the idea.

The decision to suspend several groups of employment-based visas comes on the heels of previous attempts by the Trump administration to restrict immigration during the pandemic, including efforts to turn away most immigrants at the southern border and limit visas issued in embassies across the world. Immigrant advocates and experts believe the administration is using the pandemic to institute extreme measures it long sought to under the guise of a public health emergency.

The administration's order targets the H-1B temporary visa for high-skilled foreign professionals, including those in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, or STEM. About 85,000 immigrants get H-1B visas each year.

The H-1B program has long been criticized for being abused by US companies. Critics say H-1B visas aren't actually given to the most highly trained workers, allows employers to import cheap labor. Critics also say the visas give larger companies who submit numerous applications an unfair advantage over smaller firms.

One of the requirements to get the visas is an employer must attest that the hiring of an H-1B worker will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of their US counterparts.

The Information Technology Industry Council (ITI), which represents 72 companies, sent a letter to Trump earlier this month urging him to consider the important role highly-skilled immigrants play in helping the US economy recover.

"There will be negative consequences and likely unavoidable unintended consequences should the administration restrict or disrupt the ability of American employers to hire technology professionals, including nonimmigrant visa holders," the council said.

Alex Nowrasteh, the director of immigraiton studies at the liberterian Cato Institute, said in May that Trump should resist the urge to suspend H1-B visas.

"H-1B workers have an especially big impact on American innovation. New technology and knowledge allow for more efficient machines and production processes that increase nationwide productivity," he wrote in a blog. "Highly skilled migrants on H-1B visa, as well as those on other visas and green cards, directly increase the production of knowledge through patents, innovation, and entrepreneurship."

The debate over whether to suspend work visas has split the Republican party. In May, several Republican senators, including close White House ally Lindsey Graham, sent a letter to Trump urging him not to suspend H2-A and H2-B visas. Earlier in the month, a separate group of Republican senators, led by Tom Cotton, pushed Trump to do the opposite.

H-2B visas are often used for hotel work or seafood processing. They're also used by Trump's private club in Palm Beach, Mar-a-Lago, to hire temporary foreign workers.