On April 21, 2020, President Donald Trump announced he was suspending immigration into the US for at least 60 days, a move aimed at helping Americans who had become unemployed in the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.
The president explained the reason behind the temporary shutdown of legal immigration. “In order to protect American workers, I will be issuing a temporary suspension of immigration. Pausing immigration will help put unemployed Americans first in line for jobs as America reopens. It would be wrong and unjust for Americans laid off by the virus to be replaced with new immigrant labor flown in from abroad.”
Predictably, this move has brought unfounded charges of racism against the president and even against those who support him.
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) tweeted, “Trump will ban immigration but allow some Southern states to loosen restrictions. This has nothing to do with our safety and everything to do with his blatant xenophobia.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) tweeted, “You have nobody to blame but yourself for this completely bungled response to a deadly crisis, Mr. President. Not immigrants. Not governors or mayors. Just you. Stop scapegoating immigrants with more racism and xenophobia and do your job.”
The Washington Post’s “conservative” columnist Jennifer Rubin added, “Trump apparently believes his base is motivated by racism and xenophobia. Whenever trouble hits, he returns to the subject he thinks will buck up his base: irrational and incoherent xenophobia.”
Now, almost four years into Trump’s first term, we who support him are getting used to ridiculous, hateful screeds vomited out against the president and us for supporting him. It is, though, getting old whacking through the weeds of lies.
For the record, the president and the administration are doing as well as anyone can handling the pandemic situation. The Washington Examiner listed seventy-four direct actions of the Trump administration to fight the virus and attempt to save the economy.
We also know the president took the virus more seriously sooner than the media or the Democrats did, and they have been lying about it ever since. Will the media and the Democrats ever come clean on this? We know the answer to that, so we trudge on.
The latest attack is especially galling, though. The president’s action to limit immigration for a period of sixty days makes perfect sense to people living in the real world. To people who’ve lost jobs and had to file for unemployment due to the reaction to COVID-19, this is a bit of welcome news. It means that when things open up, there will be jobs for them to seek.
Does it seem a bit ironic that those who oppose the president’s attempt to help regular people are the ones who either have secure jobs or those who benefit from cheaper labor? State Rep. Vernon Jones (D-GA) exposes the Democrats’ real passion. We should never let them propagate the lie that they care about regular Americans. They have other interests. Jones tweets, “The modern day Democratic Party has become more about defending the interests of illegals than it has the actual American people. I take issue with that.”
Conservative C.J. Pearson nails it. He tweets, “They told Donald Trump to lock down the country. He does that – suspends all immigration – and now he’s a racist? The Left isn’t pro anything anymore. They’re just anti-Trump.”
The president’s action here is not racist or xenophobic. He’s showing he cares about the regular folks who work more than forty hours a week to make ends meet. He’s doing it for the folks who’ve been told their jobs are “non-essential” so they’re no longer working and getting a paycheck. This act is the president’s latest to let the people know he gets it.
The COVID-19 pandemic has been a terrible time for our country and the world. We mourn the loss of life and one life lost is too many. Most of us, though, understand that the president and his administration are doing the best they can to balance the health of citizens and the health of the economy. We remain confident and believe that better days are ahead.
The media and the Democrats will continue to demonize and lie about the president and us, but we will persevere. Come November, we’ll win.
