Trump Uses COVID-19 As An Excuse To ‘Temporarily’ Stop Immigration

President Donald Trump speaks during the daily briefing of the White House Coronavirus Task Force at the White House on April 17, 2020. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

President Donald Trump managed to shoehorn one of his top political objectives into the government’s efforts to combat COVID-19 late Monday night, announcing that he would be issuing a ban on immigration as a response to the outbreak.

“In light of the attack from the Invisible Enemy, as well as the need to protect the jobs of our GREAT American Citizens, I will be signing an Executive Order to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States!” he tweeted.

There is no evidence that immigrants are a cause of the outbreak in the U.S.

Amid overwhelming criticism of his administration’s bungled response to the pandemic, Trump has been desperate to improve his political standing as November approaches. He’s repeatedly pushed for a reopening of the sinking economy despite health officials saying it is too early to do so, and he has applauded the right-wingers protesting their states’ stay at home orders.

Latest News
156
Show Comments

Notable Replies

  1. Who will tell him that the killer is already inside the house?

  2. Huh. And here I thought we were past the worst and ready to reopen America…

  3. Reality check - We are already the most infected country in the world. Maybe he should have done something when we had the opportunity to combat the virus.

  4. Any excuse to keep Amerika, Amerika. Keep those damn foreigners out, nothing to do with the virus.

  5. When this is over, I want Stephen Miller on trial.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

150 more replies

Participants

Avatar for valgalky23 Avatar for jw1 Avatar for cervantes Avatar for steviedee111 Avatar for squirreltown Avatar for inversion Avatar for sickneffintired Avatar for daveyjones64 Avatar for stradivarius50t3 Avatar for deere_john Avatar for khaaannn Avatar for fiftygigs Avatar for thunderclapnewman Avatar for jinnj Avatar for isakindamagic Avatar for rickjones Avatar for castor_troy Avatar for dannydorko Avatar for kelaine Avatar for zillacop Avatar for inthesedays Avatar for rascal_crone Avatar for bunnyvelour Avatar for emiliano4

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: