FAIR Blasts Executive Order in Letter to Trump, Urges New One Within 30 Days

(April 23, 2020, Washington, D.C.) – In a letter to President Trump today, the nation’s leading immigration cutback advocacy group demanded to know why his Administration was exempting hundreds of thousands of foreign workers under an immigration pause that is supposed to help relieve pressure on the American workforce. Over twenty-six million Americans have lost jobs since March 21, a crisis the country has not seen since the Great Depression.

Dan Stein, President of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), asked why, after such great fanfare on Twitter suggesting a complete cessation of immigration, the White House decided to exempt what is arguably the largest component of foreign-born impact on the welfare of American workers: the H-1B, H-2A, and H-2B programs – as well as an assortment of other exemptions.

FAIR highlighted the irony of continuing fast-moving guestworker admissions at a time of skyrocketing unemployment, claiming it demonstrates that the U.S. is moving to a two-class society, which is “not very American.”

“Under what craven notion of American equity would the United States continue a subordinated labor importation program at a time when American workers are in such distress?” asked Stein. “The optics are devastating — we are becoming a two-class society, with a servant caste relegated to guestworker status continuing apace while Americans search desperately for employment.”

Stein noted that under the ill-advised legal concept of “dual intent,” nonimmigrants can enter the country with the full intention of becoming a permanent resident of the U.S.: “These guestworker programs have spun completely out of control,” he asserted in the letter. “This represents a deadly dependency that’s wreaking havoc on the normal process by which our American workers are recruited into various components of the labor force. President Trump, you promised you would do better, and as the EO states, you have 30 days to do so.”

Stein noted that just because the Democrats have abandoned core common sense on immigration controls doesn’t mean a capitulation on immigration won’t have consequences affecting voter enthusiasm for President Trump. “The American public understands a meaningful pause of immigration to help Americans must include all immigration, especially guestworkers,” he observed.

“Besides that, Mr. President, where are the health screenings, and the assurance that the users of these guestworkers abide by proper social distancing at work and in employer-provided housing? Consider the lessons from Singapore,” he concluded, in reference to migrant worker dormitories becoming the country’s largest coronavirus cluster.

The letter also included data on rising guest worker admissions during the Trump Administration, as well as an estimate reflecting the overall weakness of his Executive Order. But most importantly, FAIR challenged President Trump to make things right in the next 30 days – the American people are counting on him.