Will Trump's looming #immigration executive order block temporary visitors ("nonimmigrants") or future green card applicants ("immigrants")?

@NYTimes: Looks like both.

1/ https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/20/us/politics/trump-immigration.html

"Several people familiar with the president’s plans said [DHS] was separately weighing a large expansion of travel restrictions that already prohibited travelers from Europe & China…significantly shrink[ing] the number of people able to come to the US for short-term visits."
2/

Except that in the near term, the actual number of people who *want* to come to the US for short-term visits (and are even allowed to do so by their home countries) is vanishingly small.

What matters is (a) who's exempted & (b) how long this ban on temporary visas lasts.

3/

"The Trump admin. would no longer approve any applications from foreigners to live & work in the US for an undetermined period of time, effectively shutting down the legal immigration system."

Banning visa *applications* is a way bigger deal than closing ports of entry.

4/

Banning new green cards (& work visas like #H1B that often lead to a green card) is about altering the future—changing the face of America, long after the #COVID crisis has passed.

5/

As we see more details dribbling out from administration officials, it's important to distinguish between these two:

Travel ban: Who gets to enter the US today?

Immigration ban: Who gets to be an American tomorrow?

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