Nearly 50 days into its proclamation to suspend certain types of immigration, the Trump administration is considering a proposal to suspend a number of employment-based visas including H-1B “high-skilled” visas as well as H-2Bs, J-1s and L-1s, report Michelle Hackman and Andrew Restuccia in The Wall Street Journal.

“Lawmakers and businesses—including tech companies and seasonal employers—along with colleges and universities, are calling on the administration to abandon the plan and have been circulating details of the proposals online. They say that barring immigrants who fill unique skill sets or take jobs most Americans won’t perform would hamper economic growth rather than bolster it.”

As a reminder, in a May 27 letter to President Trump, nine Republican Senators including Lindsey Graham (South Carolina) and John Cornyn (Texas) urged the president to reconsider these restrictions.

And for The New York Times, Zolan Kanno-Youngs and Maggie Haberman takes a broader look at how under “the cloak of a pandemic and the convulsions of anti-racist protests,” the Trump administration is restricting legal immigration and barring asylum seekers. “Whether it’s restrictions to legal immigration or further gutting the asylum system, the goal to reduce immigration to its lowest level possible continues to be at the forefront of this administration’s decision-making,” said Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, policy counsel at the American Immigration Council.

Welcome to Friday’s edition of Noorani’s Notes. Have a story you’d like us to include? Email me at [email protected].

SCAPEGOAT – As states across the country reopen for business, the number of COVID-19 cases is creeping back up, and the White House “is floating a theory that travel from Mexico may be contributing to a new wave of coronavirus infections, rather than states’ efforts to reopen their economies,” Jill Colvin and Zeke Miller report for the Associated Press. However, “cross-border travel is down substantially, and the U.S. State Department continues to urge Americans to avoid all international travel due to the pandemic.” Instead of scapegoating another nation, perhaps the administration should focus on its own.

IMMIGRANT WORKERS – Immigrants working in tomato crops in a single Florida community risk spreading the virus beyond the state’s borders as they move north to continue working, reports Laura Reiley for The Washington Post. “The agricultural community of Immokalee is quickly becoming an epicenter of coronavirus cases in Florida, with the state health department’s dashboard showing a large cluster of cases with nearly 900 recorded since April. And as workers move north to work the summer fields in other parts of the country, advocacy groups worry they will take the virus with them.” Farmworkers, much like workers in meatpacking plants, are confined to cramped conditions which make them more likely to be exposed to the coronavirus.
THE VOTE – A pair of would-be U.S. citizens are suing immigration officials to force them to schedule the oath ceremony required to become Americans in time to register to vote in the presidential election, reports Hamed Aleaziz in BuzzFeed News. “To become a U.S. citizen, immigrants must go through a long and at times arduous process that includes an interview with an immigration officer and a test on American civics and the English language. The final step, however, is the easiest of them all: repeating 140 words in a celebratory event that’s often held in American theaters, convention centers, and courthouses.” The lawsuit says the plaintiffs are among “thousands of immigrants who had their ceremonies canceled or not scheduled as the coronavirus spread rapidly in March.”
FURLOUGHS – U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has notified its federal employees that furloughs — which could impact nearly 13,000 workers — are coming July 20 due to a budget shortfall caused by COVID-19, Marisa Schultz reports for Fox News. “‘Without congressional intervention, USCIS will need to administratively furlough a portion of our employees on approximately July 20,’ a USCIS spokesperson said in a statement to Fox News. ‘We continue to work with Congress to provide the necessary funding to avert this unfortunate consequence.’”

REQUESTING DELAY – The Supreme Court should delay its upcoming Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) decision, writes the Dallas Morning News editorial board. “Given the ongoing pandemic and the national unrest over George Floyd’s killing, the Supreme Court should delay its decision on DACA. Yes, the court’s set deadline is this month; however, more than 20 cases are still pending that it will have to rule on in the next few weeks, and two weeks of oral arguments were already delayed, meaning that there is already reason to push decisions to July. … A final decision on DACA is inevitable, but right now we should focus on healing the wounds torn open by the pandemic and civil unrest. Let’s save DACA for later.”

CORRECTION – A correction from yesterday’s Notes: The new rule that the Trump administration is proposing to make it difficult for migrants to seek asylum in the U.S. is slated to be published on June 15 – with a 30-day comment period following. We had written that the rule takes effect on June 15, which is not the case. Apologies.

Thanks for reading,

Ali