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On June 22, 2020, President Trump issued a proclamation entitled “Proclamation Suspending Entry of Aliens Who Present a Risk to the U.S. Labor Market Following the Coronavirus Outbreak.” The June 22 Proclamation blocks the entry of foreign workers entering the United States on certain nonimmigrant visa categories, including H-1B, H2B, H-4, L, and certain categories of J-1 visas. These prohibitions entered into effect at 12:01 a.m. EDT on June 24, 2020 and will remain in effect through December 31, 2020, with the potential for extensions thereafter. U.S. lawful permanent residents, spouses or children of U.S. citizens, noncitizens seeking to enter the U.S. to provide temporary labor or services essential to the U.S. food supply chain and aliens whose entry would be in the national interest, as determined by the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Homeland Security, or their designees, are exempt from the Proclamation even if they are noncitizens. President Trump also extended his freeze on Permanent Resident card (green card) to December 31, 2020, which was originally put in place on April 22 as a 60-day pause and was supposed to expire on June 22.

The White House announced that the decision was made “under the extraordinary circumstances of the economic contraction” resulting from the pandemic in which “authorizing such employment pose[s] an unusual threat to the employment of American workers. Between February and April of 2020, more than 17 million United States jobs were lost in industries in which employers are seeking to fill worker positions tied to H-2B nonimmigrant visas. During this same period, more than 20 million United States workers lost their jobs in key industries where employers are currently requesting H-1B and L workers to fill positions.”

However, there is a different opinion. According to Cato Institute, cutting off H-1B visas will not result in the hiring of more American workers and could even cut the number of jobs by making it more expensive and uncertain to fill positions. As the cost of hiring increases, less hiring occurs. “Putting up a ‘not welcome’ sign for engineers, executives, IT experts, doctors, nurses and other workers won’t help our country, it will hold us back,” said Thomas J. Donohue, the chief executive of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Companies like Apple, Google, Facebook, and Amazon all released critical statements saying that the order would hurt them and the American economy as a whole. 

According to New York Times, the effort to restrict entry from foreigners into the United States was at the heart of one of the president’s key promises during the 2016 campaign and is certain to play a central role as Trump seeks to energize his core supporters during his re-election campaign this year.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced on July 6 that international students attending college in the U.S. on F-1, M-1 visas will be barred from staying in the country if their school’s classes are entirely online during the fall semester. The State Department will not issue visas to students in online-only programs and Customs and Border Protection will not allow these students to enter the country. If their school shifts online, international students currently in the United States will have to leave the country or transfer to a school with some in-person learning.

Many colleges are announcing a hybrid learning semester featuring a mix of in-person learning for small seminars and online classes for larger lectures. The ICE statement says students at schools adopting a hybrid model will be allowed to take more than one class or three credit hours online. However, international students cannot take all courses online under a hybrid model.

Universities are required to make a decision by July 15 whether they will be fully open, operate on a hybrid model or offer online-only classes. Ted Mitchell, the president of the American Council on Education, that has more than 1,700 colleges and universities as members, called the guidelines horrifying, saying it raised more questions than it answered and did more harm than good. Harvard University President Larry Bacow said in a statement that “we are deeply concerned that the guidance issued today by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement imposes a blunt, one-size-fits-all approach to a complex problem giving international students, particularly those in online programs, few options beyond leaving the country or transferring schools.” He also said “We will work closely with other colleges and universities around the country to chart a path forward.”