Washington sources stated that US President Donald Trump’s executive order suspending green cards and visas for a range of foreign guest workers is being described as “gift to china,” even as india is identified the country that will suffer most from the action. The move has also brought the extreme right and left of the US political spectrum on the same page, while pitting Republican lawmakers and white house principals against each other.
Shock waves from the Presidential decree, which had been in the works for several weeks, continued to cascade across US industry, business, and the political arena on wednesday, even as thousands of skilled foreign professionals found their future upturned, and in some cases, families separated. There were several instances of dependent spouses of H1B Visa holders appealing to US authorities to facilitate their return and re-entry to America after being stuck in india during emergency visits.
But the most striking instances of the division caused by the EO came from two of Trump’s closest political allies – powerful Republican senators Lindsey Graham of south Carolina and tom Cotton of Arkansas. While Graham said the order would have a “chilling effect” on the nation’s economic recovery amid the coronavirus pandemic, Cotton bragged that trump heeded his call in "taking bold steps to protect American workers." With so many Americans out of work, there’s no reason to bring in more foreign guest workers to take the few available jobs. Companies ought to hire Americans at decent wages instead of shipping in competitors from overseas," Cotton said on tuesday, as Trump's nativist base rejoiced over the EO and sought to make it even tighter, extending beyond its current december 31 validity.