As you undoubtedly know, President Trump announced last night–via Twitter!–that he will issue an order temporarily suspending all legal immigration on account of the COVID-19 virus:
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!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 21, 2020
I am not sure I have anything helpful to say about this. Here are a few observations, for what they are worth:
1) I don’t think there is any question that Trump has the legal authority to issue such an order. Federal law grants him broad discretion to suspend immigration from any country, or from all countries.
2) The order has not actually been issued yet. It remains to be seen whether exceptions will be carved out.
3) I did some googling, but was not able to find any data on how much immigration is going on at the moment. My guess is there isn’t much, as both the U.S. and many of the countries from which immigrants come here are mostly shut down. A temporary suspension, depending of course on how long it lasts, may not have much practical effect.
4) Why is President Trump doing this? I assume he legitimately believes that some people arriving from foreign countries are carrying the Wuhan virus, and in the absence of easy, universal screening, we should keep them out while the alleged crisis continues. Beyond that, is he trying to make a point with liberals? Maybe he wants to illustrate how easily a purported crisis can be used to advance a political agenda. Liberals have made no secret of their desire to do this, openly touting the epidemic as an opportunity to achieve longstanding political goals. Maybe Trump wants to remind them that using an epidemic for political purposes can be a two-way street. Or maybe he just enjoys watching their heads explode, I don’t know.
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