Apple’s Tim Cook has become the latest tech leader to express his disappointment at the US government’s move to suspend non-immigrant visas till the end of the year. “Like Apple, this nation of immigrants has always found strength in our diversity, and hope in the enduring promise of the American Dream. There is no new prosperity without both. Deeply disappointed by this proclamation,” Cook tweeted on Tuesday.
The move promises up to 525,000 jobs for Americans—something Trump hopes would help him get re-elected in November.
Trump’s 2016 elections campaign had been around curbing immigrants to the US and the president seems to have cinched the coronavirus pandemic as an excuse to finally pass the order.
According to the Trump administration, the ban applies to the issuance of green cards and non-immigrant visas such as H-1B and L-1.
Others who opposed Trump’s move of banning H-1B and L-1 visas include Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Tesla’s head Elon Musk. Facebook, Microsoft, PayPal, Twitter, Uber and Box were among other countries to oppose the administration’s move.
CEO of Box, Aaron Levie called the move an “unbelievably bad policy.”
Trump defends suspending green card applications
The US president has defended his decision to suspend issuing of green cards till the end of the year, saying it was needed to give jobs to Americans.
Through an executive order, Donald Trump, in April, had suspended issuing of green cards for 90 days. On Monday, he issued a proclamation which extended the suspension till December 31, 2020.
Donald Trump said that the overall unemployment rate in the country nearly quadrupled between February and May of 2020—producing some of the most extreme unemployment rates ever recorded by the Bureau of Labour Statistics.
While the rate of 13.3 per cent unemployment in May reflects a marked decline from April, millions of Americans remain out of work.
These applicants have been approved but are yet to receive employment green cards.
The backlog is projected to increase each year because the number of foreign workers who self-sponsor or are sponsored by their US employers for green cards each year exceeds the annual allocation.
(With PTI inputs)
