Business leaders fiercely criticized the decision, believing that it will restrict their ability to recruit skilled foreign workers who have more potential than the Americans. 

Source- VentureBeat

On Monday, the Trump administration announced to suspend certain employment-based visas, barring the entry of hundreds and thousands of foreigners seeking job opportunities in the United States. The decision is an attempt to protect the jobs of Americans, as the economy recovers from the Coronavirus pandemic.

This decision has made a lot of fuss in the business community, including the fear of losing valuable employees and potential skilled workers in the industry.

The suspension order will be sustained at least till the end of the year, and will not promptly affect the workers already working in the United States.

The Trump Administration has blocked visas for a broad variety of employments, including employees working for computer programmers and other skilled workers aiming to enter the country under H-1B Visa. The visa suspension is also implemented to those working in the healthcare industry, students coming for work-study summer programs and J-1 visas for exchange visitors.

President Trump is also expected to extend his temporary restrictions on the issuance of new green cards for certain groups of foreigners. Officials estimated that around 25,000 foreign workers were barred from the country for the rest of the year.

Stephen Miller, the White House aide and the architect of Trump’s immigration policy, has emphasized on eliminating the worker visas for years. And now when the country is already going through a pandemic-driven-economic-downturn, which has narrowed job opportunities for many Americans, the decision of restricting foreign workers in seeking employment in the US has become more relevant and important.

But the order is fiercely criticized by business leaders, as they believe that it will restrict their ability to hire skilled foreign workers that Americans usually lack.

US Chamber of Commerce CEO Thomas J. Donohue also opposed the decision and called the visa suspensions “a severe and sweeping attempt to restrict legal immigration.”
“Putting up a ‘not welcome’ sign for engineers, executives, IT experts, doctors, nurses and other workers won’t help our country, it will hold us back,” he said in an interview. “Restrictive changes to our nation’s immigration system will push investment and economic activity abroad, slow growth, and reduce job creation.”

After a sweeping decision for foreign workers, the Information Technology Industry Council, representing 72 companies in the US, sent a letter to Donald Trump emphasizing to reconsider their decision as the skilled foreign workers play a significant role in the country’s economy.

“There will be negative consequences and likely unavoidable unintended consequences should the administration restrict or disrupt the ability of American employers to hire technology professionals, including nonimmigrant visa holders,” the council said.

On Monday, President Trump also revealed a policy that dismisses the work permits for immigrants who enter the country through illegal means. The policy will be implemented in August.