New York attorney general Letitia James has threatened to take legal action against US President Donald Trump's decision to halt issuance of green cards to immigrants, saying his executive order uses immigrants as "scapegoats" and is antithetical to "everything we believe as Americans.”
On Wednesday, President Trump signed an executive order to suspend immigration to the US and halt the issuance of new green cards for the next 60 days as part of his administration's efforts to protect American workers, amidst the coronavirus crisis that has wreaked havoc in the country.
"This proclamation is antithetical to everything we believe as Americans and only uses immigrants as scapegoats," James said in a statement on Wednesday as Trump signed the proclamation.
She said her office stands "ready to take legal action" and will not allow Trump to usurp Congress's authority by presidential proclamation.
According to a recent report by Congressional Research Service, currently there are almost one million lawfully present foreign workers and their family members waiting to receive a green card.
Trump said that the move will not have any impact on those entering the country temporarily.
“We must first take care of the American worker… This pause will be in effect for 60 days, after which need for any extension or modification will be evaluated by myself and a group of people based on economic conditions at the time,” Trump said.
As a result of the coronavirus pandemic, more than 22 million American workers have applied for unemployment benefits, which is a record in itself.
In the coming weeks, several more millions are expected to be laid off as the US economy is in tatters.
Trump said that this pause on new immigration will also help to conserve vital medical resources for American citizens
Other exceptions include members of the military and their children. These also include Iraqis and those from Afghanistan who obtain a visa by assisting military operations.
In a New York Times report, Theresa Cardinal Brown, the director of immigration and cross border policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center was quoted as saying, the executive order “means families will be separated, employers who have spent a lot of money and a lot of time to say, ‘This is the person I need for my company,’ will not have that person, and I can imagine they will not take kindly to this.”
Trump, in a sweeping move wanted to close the US to people trying to immigrate to the country to live and work. But, after business groups put pressure on him, Trump backed off temporary labour coming in to work for technology companies, farms as well as other employers.
Trump said that he will consider extending the policy “based on economic conditions at the time.”
His initial announcement on Twitter to close the US to all immigrants surprised many officials, including those in Homeland Security and Defence Departments
Chairman of the Democratic National Committee Tom Perez said that the president couldn’t “go five minutes without blaming someone else for his failures. First it was Obama and Nancy Pelosi. Now it’s immigrants.”
Others who expressed their resentment towards Trump’s decision included Senator Kamala Harris, who tweeted, that the president “failed to take this crisis seriously from day 1,” and that Trump is “shamelessly politicizing this pandemic to double down on his anti-immigrant agenda.”
Democrat and former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams tweeted: “Once again, rather than rise to the moment, Trump uses shameful anti-immigrant rhetoric as he faces re-election. Sadly for America, he has failed on leadership, testing, and competence. Xenophobia will not undo his failures, and it will not save American lives.”
“Bigotry and xenophobia that have been hallmarks of his presidency from day one,” said Amnesty International USA’s national advocacy director Joanne Lin.
(With PTI inputs)
