The US President Donald Trump said he had signed a decree to temporarily stop immigration to the United States in the face of a shortage of jobs in the country due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“To protect our wonderful American workers, I suspended immigration to the United States. This ensures that unemployed Americans from all walks of life are first in line for jobs as our economy grows. We will also save our medical resources”, – Trump said at a news conference.
As explained in the White House, an exception will be made for doctors and other workers whose assistance is needed in the fight against coronavirus.
The administration cited data from a number of opinion polls according to which most Americans support a temporary ban on immigration to the country, believing that it poses a threat in large numbers.
The President announced plans to sign such a decree the day before. According to him, this restriction will apply to those who want to obtain a permanent residence permit in the USA – a green card. Trump said that he would suspend immigration for two months and, upon expiration, would decide whether to extend the decree.
The World Health Organization on March 11 announced an outbreak of a new coronavirus infection COVID-19 with a pandemic. According to the latest WHO data, more than 2.47 million cases of infection have been recorded in the world, over 169 thousand people have died.
The number of coronavirus victims in the USA has already exceeded 46 thousand people, the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 disease has reached 839 thousand, and 77 thousand have recovered.