On Monday, President Trump announced that he will sign an executive order to temporarily halt all immigration to the United States while the country recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic, prompting accusations of xenophobia from the mainstream media.
“In light of the attack from the Invisible Enemy, as well as the need to protect the jobs of our GREAT American Citizens, I will be signing an Executive Order to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States!,” the president tweeted.
Over at ABC’s “Good Morning America,” both George Stephanopoulos and White House correspondent Cecilia Vega cast a shadow on the president’s announcement, arguing he has used the virus to justify restricting immigration.
“Since the outbreak, the White House has been using the virus to justify increased restrictions on immigration, they’ve basically been working up to this,” Vega said, as reported by Newsbusters.
“A move like this, though, would be absolutely unprecedented and would essentially shut down the legal immigration system,” she continued. “And one thing that’s certain, this is definitely going to be challenged in court, opponents are calling this xenophobic.”
Vega’s words echoed her statements from earlier in the morning when she said that Trump’s “unprecedented” immigration order will surely be challenged in court.
“Halting immigration, even temporarily like this, would be unprecedented in this country and it sure could be challenged in court,” she said. “This morning, the President’s hardline immigration supporters, they are praising the move, but opponents are calling it xenophobic and they point to the number of corona cases already here in the U.S., we’re talking about more than any other cases than any other country in the world. The mayor of L.A. saying Mexico is more worried about the rate of infection coming from the U.S., not vice versa.”
“But President Trump says this is not just about stopping the spread of infection, he says this is about protecting American jobs,” she continued. “And speaking of jobs, according to the Census, one in four doctors in this country and one in five nurses are immigrants.”
Citing a report from the Washington Examiner, The Daily Wire’s Ryan Saavedra noted on Monday night that Americans overwhelmingly support Trump’s decision to halt immigration during the pandemic.
“A total of 83%, or 5 in 6 people, say they favor a moratorium on immigration through the southwest border amid the pandemic, a new Harvard/Harris poll found,” The Washington Examiner reported. “That figure includes 75% of Mexican Americans and 93% of Republican voters.”
On Sunday, the president also said that he would help Mexico and other countries south of the border with needed ventilators.
“And we’re going to fill up the reserves of states, we’re going to work with them so in case this happens again,” Trump said. “But we’re also going to help other countries. I was telling you, the president of Mexico, we’re going to be sending a pretty large quantity to Mexico. They very much need them and to other countries where they need them. I’ve had about six calls with leaders of other countries and they need them.”
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