President Trump says he will suspend immigration in the United States due to the Coronavirus

President Donald Trump. The Hill/Getty.

President Donald Trump tweeted today that he will be drafting an executive order to suspend all immigration to the United States due to the Coronavirus outbreak. The Hill. The order will likely be challenged in court and will be temporary in nature. It is unclear how and when the order will be implemented and it will be seen as an expansion to his recent virus related travel bans. President Trump ran on an anti-immigration platform and his decision will likely thrill his supporters and infuriate his enemies.   

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

My Comment:
I don't have the time to make an in depth post on this one but I did want to get something out this evening given the importance of this news. This is probably going to be a huge story tomorrow only eclipsed by the virus and whatever is happening in North Korea right now.

So why did President Trump do this? I do think the virus does have a major role to play in it. Given how bad the outbreak is in the world right now every immigrant that would come in could be a potential minefield. And though our own outbreak is nowhere near under control, as things get better stopping immigration might stop new outbreaks from happening.

I also think that his voters probably convinced him to do this. More than a few people pointed out that it made zero sense to import new people into this country when more than 20 million people are out of work. Losing your job is bad enough but not being able to get another one because some immigrant took it? Not a good look for anyone.

President Trump's supporters are going to be thrilled (and I'm a little happy with this myself). They have wanted more restrictions on immigration since before he was inaugurated and though President Trump has been fairly effective on illegal immigration, legal immigration remained a major problem.  The roaring economy helped quell those people but now that the economy is in the toilet their voices became a lot louder.

I fully expect the Democrats will do everything in their power to stop this. It doesn't matter what argument the President makes the Democrats will fight him regardless. I think that's a very bad look for them as I think this will be incredibly popular among many of Trumps fans and even many centrists and Democrats who aren't on board with unlimited immigration.

Who will win that court fight? I have no idea. I do expect that there will be a lawsuit filed in a favorable district and it will likely work it's way up to the Supreme Court eventually. By that time though it might be a moot point as this is not going to be a permanent thing. I am guessing by the end of May when the outbreak slows things will be getting back to normal, including immigration.