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Opinion > Columns
Trump's Marshall law ended the immigrant journey
By Crispin Aranda
Apr 10, 2023 12:07 am

MIGRANT MATTERS

SPRING signifies a new beginning, when the snow-covered mountains and brown
leafless trees undergo a transformation. Spring traditionally symbolizes a new
beginning.

So it was in the spring of 1948.

Economic health and recovery dictate the movement of people and resources. This
principle applies to immigrants.



On April 3, 1948, after spring officially started that year, President Truman
signed the Economic Recovery Act of 1948, later known as the Marshall Plan aimed
at restoring the economic infrastructure of postwar Europe.

The Marshall Plan provided markets for American goods, created reliable trading
partners, and supported the development of stable democratic governments in
Western Europe.

On March 13, 2020, then president Donald Trump signed Proclamation 9994,
declaring a national emergency as the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) sprung
its pandemic nature.

The next month — as spring chased the vestiges of the 2020 winter, Trump signed
a proclamation on April 22, "temporarily suspending immigration into the United
States."



Tweeting his response to the coronavirus pandemic as protecting American jobs
and national safety, the 45th president launched his own Marshall Plan.

In contrast to Truman's plan to expand US involvement in Europe and the world,
Trump doubled up on an isolationist path that won him the White House in 2016 —
America first on three legs: isolationism, protectionism and restricting
immigration.

China and Russia were the dark horses.

Trump accused China of creating the coronavirus in the lab and allowed the
contagion to spread worldwide. Russia's disinformation campaign derailed Hillary
Clinton's campaign, boosted the candidacy of Donald Trump, sowed political and
social discord that catered to the Make America Great Again (MAGA) mob.



According to the US intelligence community, the operation — codenamed Project
Lakhta — was ordered directly by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

While the special counsel's report in April 2019 did not find sufficient
evidence to bring any conspiracy or coordination against Trump or his
associates, the energized MAGA crowd egged on by MAGA Republicans continued its
attacks on the "mainstream, fake news media" capped by the January 6
insurrection as Trump claimed that he won the election despite all official
results debunking the myth of widespread election fraud.

But it was the coronavirus that won the throne of banning immigrants.

Before the World Health Organization categorized the Covid-19 infection as a
pandemic, the average number of visas issued yearly to Philippine applicants was
29,934.



Visa allocation and issuance rules changed after Covid-19: a ban on immigrants
and travelers.

As illustrated above, the basis for visa allocation and issuance was mainly on
the priority dates becoming current after documentation has been submitted and
accepted by NVC.

Pursuing his campaign promise of reducing — if not eliminating — immigration
numbers under his "America First" policy, then president Trump issued
proclamations banning the entry of immigrants into the US.

The first group banned on Jan. 31, 2020, under Proclamation 9984 (Suspension of
entry as immigrants and non-immigrants of persons who pose a risk of
transmitting 2019 novel coronavirus and other appropriate measures to address
this risk) were those from countries with widespread coronavirus outbreaks,
mainly the People's Republic of China.



Presidential proclamations were subsequently issued: Feb. 29, 2020, for the
Islamic Republic of Iran. On March 14, 2020, travelers from the UK and Ireland
were added to the list of foreign nationals banned from entering the US under
Presidential Proclamation 9994.

April 22, 2020, Presidential Proclamation 10014 banning the admission of
immigrants who were outside the US on that date; do not have a valid immigrant
visa on April 23; or do not have an official travel document other than a visa
valid on April 23.

May 24, 2020 ban on nonimmigrants and immigrants from the Federative Republic of
Brazil.

These proclamations — and mainly that issued on April 22, 2020, created a huge
immigrant visa backlog.



April 2021-March 2023 visa backlog

In April 2021, the National Visa Center reported 494,289 immigrant visa
applicants were already documentarily qualified and ready for visa scheduling at
consular posts worldwide, including the US Embassy in Manila.

That same month, 18,979 DQ applicants were scheduled for interview, leaving
475,310 DQ applicants at NVC.

These numbers remained constantly high more than a year after.



Before the advent of spring this year, the backlog remained a cold mountain of
immigrant visa applicants waiting for their visa interviews.

In February 2023, there were 444,828 documentarily qualified applicants in the
visa backlog, with 408,456 waiting for their interview schedules.

That same month, only 2,277 immigrant visas were issued at the US embassy in
Manila: 556 to immediate relatives of US citizens (spouse, minor children and
parents), 711 to employment-based visa applicants and 39 other immigrant visas.

Nine hundred seventy-one relatives of those in the family-preference categories
(from F1 to F4) got theirs.



The State Department's March 2020 visa backlog report shows 439,131 visa
applicants all ready and qualified to be interviewed — and still waiting.

In the last two fiscal years of the Obama administration and until Trump took
over the White House, 1,201,246 immigrants were admitted into the US as lawful
permanent residents.

Official numbers from the State Department show the number of immigrant
admissions dropped to only 240,526 in 2020 and 285,069 in 2021
(https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/visa-law0/visa-statistics/immigrant-visa-statistics/monthly-immigrant-visa-issuances.html)

Majority of these numbers were issued to the immediate relatives of US citizens
(since they were given preference in visa processing and issuance), plus the
fact that these visa applicants were not subject to the 480,000 annual
Family-preference quota or 25,620 per country limit.



The Trump proclamations indeed reduced the number of immigrants America allowed
in; a campaign promise under America First delivered.

For millions of immigrants including the 4,083,649 on the State Department's
waiting list at the National Visa Center, their immigrant journey has
effectively ended, thawed, and discarded as dirty snow post-winter.

Yet, a stronger storm and brutal winter is threatening in the 2024 horizon with
Trump as the presumptive Republican Party nominee for president, despite his
being arraigned and charged with 34 felony counts, with more coming.

Where are John Snow and Daenerys' dragons when you need them?



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