US President Joe Biden has lifted
a restriction placed on the issuance of green cards.
In April 2020, former President
Donald Trump blocked the issuance of new green cards as a move to “protect
American jobs”.
He had argued that the ban, which
blocked US permanent residence for Nigerians and other countries, was needed to
protect US workers amid the high unemployment rate induced by the coronavirus
pandemic.
But in a proclamation issued on
Wednesday, Biden said the ban has caused much harm with no good.
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“To the contrary, it harms the United
States, including by preventing certain family members of United States
citizens and lawful permanent residents from joining their families here,” the
New York Times quoted him to have said.
“It also harms industries in the
United States that utilize talent from around the world. By pausing
immigration, we will help put unemployed Americans first in line for jobs as
America reopens.
“It would be wrong and unjust for
Americans laid off by the virus to be replaced with new immigrant labour flown
in from abroad. We must first take care of the American worker.”
The proclamation is the latest in
a series of presidential actions Biden has taken to upend policies introduced
by the Trump administration.
Immediately after his
inauguration in January, he lifted the ban on immigrant visa which Trump had
imposed on Nigeria and six other countries after expanding his controversial
immigration policies.
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