With each passing hour, COVID-19 infections and fatalities in the United States grow. And while President Trump has enacted multiple border controls to contain what he rightly calls the “Chinese Virus,” some Stupid Party Congressthings want to increase the importation of foreigners who will not only take American jobs and buy up American companies but also, in the end, possibly spread this contagion or introduce another. This is a Yuge opportunity for Trump to impose an America First Agenda.
Temporary immigration restrictions have been a major part of Trump’s response. In January, he imposed travel restrictions on Chinese nationals. Outraged Leftists, including Sen. Chuck Schumer and the Mainstream Media, attacked him, claiming seasonal flu was the greater threat [Get a grip, America. The flu is a much bigger threat than coronavirus, for now, by Lenny Bernstein, Washington Post, February 1, 2020].
Then, just last week, Trump blocked travel to and from Europe and closed our northern and southern borders [Trump Closes U.S. Borders. Immigration Grinds To A Halt, by John Burnett, NPR, March 19, 2020]. He also ordered the immediate deportation of all illegal aliens apprehended at the border with Mexico [Trump Ordered All Immigrants Caught Entering The US Illegally To Be Turned Back To Ward Off Coronavirus Spread, by Adolfo Flores, Buzzfeed, March 20, 2020]. And then he stopped refugee admissions [Refugee admissions to the US temporarily suspended, by Priscilla Alvarez, CNN, March 18, 2020]. In other words, Trump understands that “migrants” and “refugees” are possible carriers of the Asiatic pathogen [Trump closing southern border, claims migrants causing ‘viral spread,’ ABC News, March 20, 2020].
He could do more, of course, but what he has done is beyond anything a Democrat would propose.
That isn’t to say Trump’s been right on everything. The Administration has scaled back some enforcement measures to protect Immigration and Customs Enforcement Officers from contagion. Or at least that’s the excuse. As well, the Administration suspended deportation flights [13 changes to the US immigration system during the coronavirus pandemic, by Priscilla Alvarez, CNN, March 20, 2020].
Border authorities aren’t doing what they should, either. Line agents told the Washington Examiner that superiors ordered them to keep the traffic flowing for shopping and family or doctor visits [Claim they're going shopping: Border officials allow hundreds of Mexican vehicles to cross despite Trump ban, by Anna Giaritelli, March 21, 2020]. Trump should fire the insubordinate bureaucrats now.
But that’s just Trump. Of more concern are donor-driven Republicans who would keep flooding the country with immigrants workers and mega-wealthy subversives. You know, because Big Business needs it.
The Administration halted new interviews for temporary farm workers who get H-2A visas, but many Republicans and Trump’s own cabinet members want more [U.S. restricts visas for farmworkers, raising concerns about food supply, by Suzy Khimm, NBC News, March 19, 2020].
“We’re concerned about H-2A visas, particularly agriculture workers we need to get across,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said at a Friday press conference with the president. They're “our economic lifeblood,” he said. And Pompeo assured reporters that foreigners with work visas can still come to the U.S.
Reporter: “Can anyone with a work visa cross the border?”
— U.S. Tech Workers (@USTechWorkers) March 20, 2020
Mike Pompeo: “We’re concerned about H-2A visas, particularly agriculture workers we need to get across.” pic.twitter.com/7bQiKMvnTo
In a letter to Pompeo, 42 lawmakers, including several Republicans, demanded that Trump ease the restrictions because they’ll cripple the farm industry [‘Devastating impact’: Visa suspensions seen as threat to farm labor, food supply, by Nicholas Ibarra, Santa Cruz Sentinel, March 19, 2020].
Even some GOP immigration patriots want the flow of H-2A visas to continue. Georgia Sen. David Perdue, a co-sponsor of the immigration reductionist RAISE Act, drafted a letter urging the Department of Homeland Security to allow in more foreign farmworkers. Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler signed on, as did 10 Republican and two Democrat colleagues, along with several Republican congressmen. Inexplicably, that list includes immigration patriot Rep. Doug Collins, Loeffler’s opponent in the special election on Nov. 3.
Big Ag is kind of like E.F. Hutton. When it talks, the GOP listens.
The Ag industry and its Stupid Party oxen bellow that farms might fail without foreign workers. Well, given that the Chinese Virus might well kill millions of jobs, now is not the time to give the jobs that remain to foreign workers [Coronavirus layoffs surge across America, overwhelming unemployment offices, by Rebecca Rainey, Politico, March 17, 2020].
And low-skilled farm hands won’t be the GOP’s only beneficiaries.
That’s where Trump has gone wrong. The administration is set to ease the importation of “high-skilled” foreigners who seek H-1B visas. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will allow electronic signatures on documents and lift standards that bar companies from buying their way to the front of the line [DHS Changes Rule to Import More H-1B Foreign Workers in Economic Meltdown, by Neil Munro, Breitbart, March 21, 2020]. That’s enraging, given that USCIS is largely responsible for the record high rate of H-1B visa denials.
As if all that isn’t enough, Sen. Lindsey Graham (Scalawag—SC) has proposed increasing EB-5 visas for foreign “investors” from 10,000 to no less than 75,000 annually. That ticket to ride across the border goes to rich foreigners who invest at least $900,000 here. Half of these visas go to Chinese oligarchs. Incredibly, Graham wants Trump to support a massive EB-5 increase in the Chinese Virus response bill and halve the required level of investment [Trump considers increasing visas for foreign investors, by Gabby Orr and Anita Kumar, Politico, March 18, 2020]. Happily, Graham now seems to realize the proposals’ bad optics and now vehemently denies he supports it [After Tucker Carlson Attacks Him Over Chinese Visas, Lindsey Graham Goes on Hannity to Deny Story: ‘Absolute Garbage,’ by Sarah Rumpf, Mediaite, March 19, 2020].
That’s a good sign. But for Republicans even to consider these daft ideas sends a terrible message that could well sink Trump in November. If globalism brought the Chinese Virus here, the best response is a more nationalist foreign and domestic policies; i.e., the America First plans that elected Trump in the first place.
That means he must halt most immigration and seal our borders until the Yellow Peril subsides and the economy recovers.
Trump should reduce Chinese immigration permanently. Nearly 400,000 Chinese nationals are enrolled at American universities. Some are spies and many are possibly responsible for spreading the virus here. Chinese nationals use birth tourism to exploit the Anchor Baby loophole. All that has to end.
Unsurprisingly, immigration boosters worry that Trump might impose more border controls. [Migration Supporters Worry China’s Epidemic Could Reduce Immigration, by Neil Munro, Breitbart, March 16, 2020]. If so, good!
Trump has the perfect chance to impose a nationalist border policy and show why it works. He must strengthen our borders, stop the immigration, and bring manufacturing jobs back home.
Globalism—and China—are the disease. Nationalism—and America First—are the cure.
Washington Watcher II [Email him] is an anonymous DC insider.
