Senior White House adviser Stephen Miller reportedly said President Trump’s temporary immigration ban is part of a long-term vision.
Miller told Trump supporters in an off-the-record phone call that Trump’s recently proposed moratorium on immigration amid the coronavirus pandemic is part of a broad vision to cut future immigration levels, according to a report from the Washington Post.
“The most important thing is to turn off the faucet of new immigrant labor,” Miller said, according to the Washington Post’s report on the off-record conversation.
“As a numerical proposition, when you suspend the entry of a new immigrant from abroad, you’re also reducing immigration further because the chains of follow-on migration that are disrupted,” said Miller, one of the executive order’s main authors. “So the benefit to American workers compounds with time.”
The report says Miller, who was a chief architect in drafting the immigration order, said Trump’s immigration order is not intended to be a stopgap measure, but rather a long-term vision to shape immigration flow. The Washington Examiner reached out to the White House for comment but did not receive a response. Both the White House and Miller declined to comment to the Washington Post.
On Monday, Trump announced on Twitter his intention to sign an executive order to halt immigration temporarily during the coronavirus pandemic.
“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.
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!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 21, 2020
The president later announced exceptions for landscapers, farmworkers, and other immigrants, saying the temporary ban was placed in order to protect jobs.
“It would be wrong and unjust for Americans laid off by the virus to be replaced with new immigrants, labor flown in from abroad,” Trump said at Tuesday’s White House coronavirus briefing, referring to the 22 million people who have filed for unemployment benefits over the past four weeks. “We must first take care of the American worker.”
