# POTUS plans to pause green card issuance: how does this help US workers? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [April 22, 2020, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potus-plans-to-pause-green-card-issuance-how-does-this-help-us-workers/852325 "2020-04-22T07:36:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2020, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potus-plans-to-pause-green-card-issuance-how-does-this-help-us-workers/852325/21 "2020-04-22T17:44:24Z")
> [@kayT](#): > > > [@asahi](#): > > > > **Don’t assume that the guest workers are actually competing with citizens.** You’d have to evaluate that on a case-by-case basis. > > > > Right now, economic activity is at an all-time low, so it’s hard to tell what kind of competition is taking place. But my guess is that it’s little to none for the moment. > > Bolding mine. I believe that this is the biggest misconception in the whole “guest worker” issue. I spent a lot of years working in the car business and if there were citizens willing to do certain jobs for pretty low pay (that were being done by “guests”), they’d have been hired. There weren’t. I’m pretty sure that is still the case. In fact, such a large amount of seasonal agricultural sector work is done by immigrant labor that it has already been an issue over the last few years to the point that farmers are often having to dispose of product or plow over fields because they lack the labor to plant and harvest or resort to hiring undocumented workers because of the dearth of legitimately permitted immigrant workers. [Where are the workers? A farm crisis in Washington](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Asoh-gyFAg&t=46s) [A lack of migrant labor is forcing farmers in the US to stop growing crops](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLf3NB2SRA4) [Meet The Undocumented Coachella Farmworkers Feeding America](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwdEUXOPAVE) [For Undocumented Workers, It’s Not-so-Sweet Home Alabama](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZojJszoBXgI) Expect this to get worse, and it is unlikely that Americans are going to be willing to work doing the arduous tasks of picking strawberries and tomatoes for minimum wage. > [@RitterSport](#): > > I, for one, will be shocked if we find out that this policy is not too well thought out and won’t have the intended benefits to American workers. That will certainly be a first for this administration whose previous labor policies and executive actions have been nothing but sterling for American industries and workers. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2020, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potus-plans-to-pause-green-card-issuance-how-does-this-help-us-workers/852325/22 "2020-04-22T20:12:33Z")
Does not apply to a lot of tech workers since they are here on H1B visa. There is also another step before the green card for those people but I can’t recall the name of that status. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2020, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potus-plans-to-pause-green-card-issuance-how-does-this-help-us-workers/852325/23 "2020-04-23T00:25:19Z")
> [@zimaane](#): > > Noble is probably too strong a word, but at a time when millions of Americans are losing their jobs, postponing for 60 days the arrival of new job seekers seems sensible enough. But it does little or nothing to postpone the arrival of new job seekers. The vast bulk of green cards are issued to people already lawfully in the United States. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2020, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potus-plans-to-pause-green-card-issuance-how-does-this-help-us-workers/852325/24 "2020-04-23T01:01:55Z")
The order’s been released. It exempts people in a few categories. Most importantly, immediate family members of US citizens, and healthcare workers intending to help with COVID. ---
**Author:** ![mandala](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mandala/32/95_2.png) [@mandala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mandala)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2020, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potus-plans-to-pause-green-card-issuance-how-does-this-help-us-workers/852325/25 "2020-04-24T11:03:13Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > But it does little or nothing to postpone the arrival of new job seekers. The vast bulk of green cards are issued to people already lawfully in the United States. Well, he had to be seen doing _something_, and so he does something, never mind it has no impact whatsoever on the problem at hand. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2020, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potus-plans-to-pause-green-card-issuance-how-does-this-help-us-workers/852325/26 "2020-04-24T11:31:54Z")
> [@mandala](#): > > Well, he had to be seen doing _something_, and so he does something, never mind it has no impact whatsoever on the problem at hand. That’s a pretty charitable description. I’d say he did something that will (a) make a good anti-immigrant soundbite for his base that (b) does nothing at all to help American workers while (c) still having a negative impact on people seeking to become permanent residents here. People who have established their lives here (why else become a permanent resident?) are having their plans thrown into disarray for no reason other than to establish further Trump’s anti-immigrant cred with his base. ---
**Author:** ![mandala](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mandala/32/95_2.png) [@mandala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mandala)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2020, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potus-plans-to-pause-green-card-issuance-how-does-this-help-us-workers/852325/27 "2020-04-26T14:10:41Z")
[Trump’s Temporary Halt to Immigration Is Part of Broader Plan, Stephen Miller Says](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/24/us/politics/coronavirus-trump-immigration-stephen-miller.html) So they are working on something to restrict work visas such as H1 and H2, which would cut closer to their goal of stopping foreign labor. The pandemic is just an excuse - but a reasonably good one, since at this point 26 million Americans are out of a job, and it is easier to sell this to a distressed public. Most H1 workers are IT professionals, and IT jobs in America have not seen a real downturn, unlike other areas such as hotels and airlines. So I am not sure how stopping 85,000 H1 workers (who would enter in October) benefit the job market for US workers. I suppose it might have a small beneficial impact on US IT workers, but is not going to make a dent in those unemployment numbers. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2020, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potus-plans-to-pause-green-card-issuance-how-does-this-help-us-workers/852325/28 "2020-04-26T14:28:50Z")
> [@mandala](#): > > [Trump’s Temporary Halt to Immigration Is Part of Broader Plan, Stephen Miller Says](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/24/us/politics/coronavirus-trump-immigration-stephen-miller.html) > > So they are working on something to restrict work visas such as H1 and H2, which would cut closer to their goal of stopping foreign labor. The pandemic is just an excuse - but a reasonably good one, since at this point 26 million Americans are out of a job, and it is easier to sell this to a distressed public. > > Most H1 workers are IT professionals, and IT jobs in America have not seen a real downturn, unlike other areas such as hotels and airlines. So I am not sure how stopping 85,000 H1 workers (who would enter in October) benefit the job market for US workers. I suppose it might have a small beneficial impact on US IT workers, but is not going to make a dent in those unemployment numbers. As bad as cutting visas for less educated laborers would be, it would be disastrous to cut visas for skilled immigrants. These are doctors who fill shortages in rural areas. These are people who allow US companies to compete in fields like IT and other STEM fields. This is just another cynical ploy to create “whiteness” and to use “whiteness.” And it’ll get worse and more outrageous until the voters stand up and get in their way. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2020, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potus-plans-to-pause-green-card-issuance-how-does-this-help-us-workers/852325/29 "2020-04-26T16:23:33Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > As bad as cutting visas for less educated laborers would be,… Given how dependent the agricultural and meat processing industries are on immigrant labor, it would be even more devastating. Loosing skilled IT workers is bad, and losing physicians and engineers is even worse, but something that cuts the bottom out of the food supply chain is a recipe for humanitarian disaster and societal collapse. It isn’t as if this is going to fundamentally change the dynamics of the pandemic given that many states are already failing to take effective measured to prevent contagion; this is white nationalism in a string bikini, and if taken to its logical conclusion will devastate fundamental elements of the US economy. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2020, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potus-plans-to-pause-green-card-issuance-how-does-this-help-us-workers/852325/30 "2020-04-26T21:30:30Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Given how dependent the agricultural and meat processing industries are on immigrant labor, it would be even more devastating. Loosing skilled IT workers is bad, and losing physicians and engineers is even worse, but something that cuts the bottom out of the food supply chain is a recipe for humanitarian disaster and societal collapse. It isn’t as if this is going to fundamentally change the dynamics of the pandemic given that many states are already failing to take effective measured to prevent contagion; this is white nationalism in a string bikini, and **if taken to its logical conclusion will devastate fundamental elements of the US economy.** My bolding. We’re not out of line to assume that destruction of the US is Team Tramp’s goal. Are Putin’s puppy and his puppets performing well there? A slightly less malicious [del]CT[/del] hypothesis sees them only destroying “conservative” credibility with studied incompetence as well as encouraging casualties among their followers. Go on, freedom lovers - gather amid contagion; drink poison; choke-off food supplies; and be sure to state at the sun till your corneas melt. Who leads the blind then? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potus-plans-to-pause-green-card-issuance-how-does-this-help-us-workers/852325.md?page=1)