April 21, 2020- (Chicago, IL) In the midst of a deadly pandemic, our national leadership should be united in focusing on providing the testing, medical equipment, and other resources we will need to recover safely and strongly.  We should also be supporting the many essential workers who are putting themselves at risk in order to keep all of us alive and healthy--including the many immigrants working in agriculture, food processing, manufacturing, health care, and other vital fields. Instead, last night’s White House tweet announcing a suspension of immigration is a xenophobic and counterproductive distraction from the work we need to do as a nation to combat the coronavirus, and a desperate attempt to divert attention from the Administration’s own failures to adequately prepare for and respond to the outbreak.

The Administration is yet again prioritizing its white nationalist agenda over the critical work needed to save lives. Instead of the divisive appeals to bigotry and xenophobia that have become too common and expected from this Administration, our government leadership should be providing medical treatment for all who need it and support for everyone who has been harmed by the pandemic and during the most severe economic crisis in a lifetime.  We should also be developing solutions for the inequities that the pandemic has magnified, including health disparities that have put communities of color at particular risk.  ICIRR and our members throughout the state of Illinois have offered our “Everybody In” platform of immediate and longer-term demands to address the current crisis. We stand ready to help build a more just and fair community that includes all of us.

Update (April 22, 2020):  The Trump Administration issued its proclamation suspending entry of some immigrants for the next 60 days. The suspension applies to individuals seeking to immigrate permanently to the United States (as lawful permanent residents) who are outside the United States on April 22, 2020, and who do not have a valid visa or travel document allowing them to travel to and enter the US. The order does not apply to:

• People in the US applying for green cards

• People applying for temporary visas from outside the US

• People who are already lawful permanent residents

• Spouses and children of US citizens

• Spouses and children of US military members

• Immigrants coming on health care related visas to do COVID-related work

• Immigrants entering on investor (EB-5) visas

• Certain other immigrants whose entry is related to law enforcement or is in the national interest

Media Coverage:

ABC 7, NBC 5 and Telemundo

For more information, please contact Fred Tsao, ICIRR’s Senior Policy Counsel at ftsao@icirr.org