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- Published: April 23, 2020 08:16
Washington DC [USA]: US President Donald Trump on Wednesday (local time) announced the signing of an executive order to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States for 60 days in view of the coronavirus outbreak in the country.
“In order to protect our American workers, I have just signed an executive order temporarily suspending immigration into the United States,” Trump said at the White House on Wednesday.
“We want Americans to have the jobs and we want the Americans to have health care. We want to take care of our citizens first. It is a very powerful order. It’s for 60 days. At the end of 60 days or even during the 60-day (period), we may extend it or not,” he added.
On Tuesday, Trump said that a temporary suspension of immigration into the US will be in effect for 60 days, after which, the decision regarding any possible extension will be evaluated based on economic conditions of the country.
“I will be issuing a temporary suspension of immigration into the US. This pause will be in effect for 60 days, after which the need for an extension or modification will be evaluated based on economic conditions at the time,” the President said.
The order would mark an extraordinary use of executive power by Trump, who earlier spoke about the ability of certain states to begin reopening their economies despite the threat of the virus, The Hill reported.
The suspension of all immigration would serve as an extension on the travel restrictions that the Trump administration has already imposed on most of Europe, China, Canada, Mexico, Iran and South Korea.
COVID-19 has infected more than 2.6 million people around the world. The US has reported as many as 8,40,000 cases with over 46,000 fatalities, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. (ANI)