Most H-1B & H-2B visas, plus Chain Migration & most employment-based green cards, are to be put on pause til at least Dec. 31.

THIS IS A NICE BIG STEP VICTORY, FRIENDS!

We were disappointed and said why when Pres. Trump on April 22 announced a limited pause in bringing in new foreign workers. That Executive Order didn't touch the hundreds of thousands of temporary work visas given annually. And it was for only two months.

Thanks to all of you who have been pounding away with that message to the White House and Members of Congress ever since.

A few minutes ago, Pres. Trump signed a new Executive Order. It delivers on his promise to consider extending and expanding the pause to make sure that, as jobs open up, American workers won't have to compete with brand new foreign workers brought into the country.

The White House is claiming that by the end of this calendar year perhaps a half-million Americans will have jobs that otherwise would have been filled by foreign citizens whose entry now will be blocked by the Executive Order announced today.

It is too soon for us to verify that number. But the details as listed below suggest that a huge number of currently jobless workers will benefit from this action.

NumbersUSA STATEMENT TO MEDIA

NumbersUSA applauds President Trump's unprecedented Executive Order temporarily halting the entry of certain immigrants and guest workers. No previous administration in our lifetimes has recognized the imperative of slowing the importation of foreign workers during an unemployment crisis.

For the more than 45 million Americans who have lost their jobs during this pandemic, this EO represents real opportunity to regain employment at a livable wage. Just as important, it represents an opportunity for American employers to broaden their recruitment efforts into historically underserved communities and prove that Americans will do those jobs.

TELL YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS YOU SUPPORT THIS PAUSE

We are encouraging you to communicate with the White House and Members of Congress about your support for these further reductions in the importation of foreign citizens with work permits.

Please go to your customized Action Board and look for messages to send.

There remain questions about some of the exemptions, especially one for national interest. We will follow this closely. But our Team feels this Executive Order deserves to be praised.

THE MAIN POINTS

Perhaps the most astounding part of the Executive Order has to do with H-1B visas for higher-skilled workers. The tech industry and the university lobbies have protected this program for three decades even though it is filled with fraud and is used to avoid employing American workers who are older, or are minorities, or are women. It often is used to replace American workers.

H-1B workers fill perhaps 600,000 jobs right now. And most of them are demanding through powerful lobbyists to be made permanent residents and U.S. citizens.

Yet today, Pres. Trump announced a pause on issuing H-1B visas to people entering the country, other than those whose high skills are deemed needed to combat the Covid-19 pandemic.

The second big surprise in which Pres. Trump is bucking the corporate lobbyists is his pause on most H-2B visas for lower-skilled workers. There are exceptions for seafood workers and some others involved in the processing of food, but the promise is that nobody else will be brought in this year on this visa to do construction, landscaping, hospitality and other jobs that are so needed by unemployed Americans.

When it comes to issuing permanent work permits through green cards, the only family getting them will be spouses and minor children. The Chain Migration program of extended family is on pause the rest of the year.

And so are the green cards for most of the employment-based permanent work visa slots.

Our NumbersUSA Research and Hill Teams will be providing more details through email. But check first on our Home Page for updates.

We wanted to wait to talk to you about this until after the EO was actually signed by the President and we had read the EO, which was still in negotiation until just now. It is good to stop and celebrate in the midst of such a decades-long battle that seems like it will never end.

Notice that I label this as a "step victory." There are more exemptions in this Executive Order than we would like. There are visas and other issues that we wish were dealt with in this order. But today marks a really big advance in the protection of American workers. And we are assured that more improvements are on the way.

THANKS FOR YOUR HELP,

roy beck, numbersusa FOUNDER & president