The United States is the worst-hit country by the pandemic, approaching 800,000 cases and over 42,000 deaths. Along with the recent dip in oil prices and the shutdown of the economy, President Donald Trump announced a temporary halt in US immigration.
The New York Post reports that Trump announced temporarily halting immigration to the United States on social 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 am signing an Executive Order to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States!” tweeted Trump.
Trump previously placed travel bans on non-American citizens coming to the United States from heavily-affected countries.
But as measures such as these are being set in place out of the raging pandemic, Trump has embroiled himself in a feud with the state governors over the past few weeks. Governors from both sides have since criticized Trump following his accusations towards the Democrats of playing political games in the midst of the pandemic. The accusations stemmed from the Democrats’ demands of more coronavirus test kits made, along with the governors’ pleas for more assistance from the federal government.
It has since been a back and forth between Trump and the state governors. Trump attacked the state governors for being too dependent on the federal government. Meanwhile, Vice President Mike Pence assured the governors that the federal government was already doubling down on efforts to speed up testing. Pence told the governors via video conference that an email is being sent out regarding their respective states’ testing capacity.
However, Maryland governor Larry Hogan revealed that a lot of the unused machinery listed for the state was federal labs that they do not have access to. Hogan would later welcome 500,000 coronavirus test kits from South Korea, negotiated with help from his wife Yumi Hogan, who grew up outside Seoul.
Trump did not take this news well, criticizing Hogan’s effort in obtaining tests from South Korea. “The governor of Maryland could have called Mike Pence, could have saved a lot of money. I don’t think he needed to go to South Korea. He needed to get a little knowledge,” said Trump.