WASHINGTON, Feb 25 (NNN-AGENCIES) – U.S. President, Joe Biden, revoked an executive action by his predecessor, banning legal immigration for family members of U.S. citizens and residents, and diversity visa lottery recipients.
Biden said that, former President, Donald Trump’s order, blocking green card applicants and temporary foreign workers “does not advance the interests of the United States.”
“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 utilise talent from around the world. And it harms individuals who were selected to receive the opportunity to apply for, and those who have likewise received, immigrant visas through the Fiscal Year 2020 Diversity Visa Lottery,” he added.
The Trump administration, which twice extended the suspension that is set to expire on Mar 31, insisted that the ban was necessary to protect American workers and the U.S. labour market during the pandemic.
“The admission of workers within several nonimmigrant visa categories also posed a risk of displacing and disadvantaging U.S. workers, during the economic recovery, following the COVID-19 outbreak,” Trump said, in a proclamation issued last year.
