The Wall Street Journal editorial described yesterday's announcement by US President Donald Trump that he would order a temporary halt, for a period of 60 days, to the issuance of permanent residence cards (green cards) to prevent people from immigrating to the United States, as appearing as a political distraction that could become a major constraint on economic growth if it continues. long time.
She criticized the move, saying that Trump wanted to quickly turn the wheel of the US economy and launch "like a spaceship", but now plans to reduce the human resources needed for a strong recovery by suspending more immigration to the United States.
The newspaper asked why this matter is considered necessary even for public health reasons, highlighting that Trump has banned travel to the United States from most parts of the world, and his administration has stopped the transactions of almost all new visas for foreigners, and foreign governments have suspended unnecessary travel to the United States, in addition to mandatory quarantine. For a period of 14 days for new arrivals, ensuring that any new increase in the Coronavirus from abroad is curbed.
She said that there is also no clear evidence that migrants are linked to the spread of the virus more than anyone else, noting that hot spots of infection have erupted in major cities such as New York, and in meat-packing factories in the Midwest, where migrants reside, but the spread there is due to livelihood. Or work or movement in enclosed spaces, and not to greater rates among immigrants.
The newspaper added that almost all economic evidence shows that immigrants boost US growth and jobs. In this, it referred to a study by former Federal Reserve economist Madeleine Zavodny in which she said that unemployment rates were low in states experiencing surges in immigration such as Texas and Iowa, and that "there is more." Of immigrants, it reduces the unemployment rate and raises the labor force participation rate for US citizens with the same gender and educational level. "
The newspaper also mentioned that immigrants in this epidemic provide "essential" work such as farm labor, meat packing, food preparation and grocery delivery that help the country withstand.
The pressure group "The New American Economy" estimates that 3.8 million workers in the food industry are foreign-born, and about 28 percent in agriculture.
The percentage of US doctors, nurses, and other foreign-born health workers is 16.5%.
The Wall Street Journal commented by saying that all of this indicates that Trump's real calculations here are political, and that the price of all this may be a slower economic recovery that harms the general American public.