Biden ends Trump’s ban on temporary foreign worker visas put in place during the pandemic in a huge win for big tech
President Joe Biden will allow a ban on certain types of temporary worker visas to expire in his latest reversal of former President Donald Trump’s immigration policy.
Bloomberg News reported that the ban will end Wednesday.
The pandemic-related moratorium impacted H-1B visas that are used by Silicon Valley’s tech companies to hire coders and engineers from abroad.
President Joe Biden will allow a ban on certain types of temporary worker visas to expire in his latest reversal of former President Donald Trump’s immigration policy
Trump, an immigration hardliner, had used the COVID-19 pandemic last year to curtail forms of legal immigation, including to H-1B visa holders, angering Silicon Valley’s tech companies
Representatives of tech companies have been pushing the Biden administration to rescind the ban since the president was sworn-in in January, arguing that it was harming American companies.
It took effect last June, as the Trump administration used the pandemic to further squeeze legal immigration after already taking a hardline approach to illegal immigration.
Trump’s team had also stopped issuing green cards, using COVID-19 as an excuse. Biden reversed Trump’s executive order on that last month.
‘To the contrary, it harms the United States, including by preventing certain family members of United States citizens and lawful permanent residents from joining their families here,’ Biden said. ‘It also harms industries in the United States that utilize talent from around the world.’
Trump famously ran on a platform of curtailing illegal immigration.
He pitched building a wall between the United States and Mexico – and making Mexico pay for it.
During his four years in office, Trump was successful in building hundreds of miles of wall, but a majority replaced pre-existing, deteriorating structures.
He also took on certain kinds of legal immigration as well, railing against ‘chain’ migration that allows family members of citizens and green card holders to come in.
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