Syracuse University Constitutional Law Professor Jennifer Breen questions the need to place limitations on green cards and contends there is no evidence to suggest immigrants are contributing to growing national unemployment. If you are reporting on this subject, please consider Prof. Breen’s comments below.
“American workers are suffering during this pandemic, but the President’s Proclamation will do nothing to relieve that suffering. While workers are in desperate need of job security and replacement of lost income, as well as health care that does not disappear when their job does, the President has turned his attention to the non-issue of immigrant labor. Immigration and labor policies are deeply intertwined with one another and it is appropriate for the President to consider the impact of immigration on the nation’s workforce, particularly during a time of record unemployment. But there is no evidence at all–nor does the President offer any–that immigrants are contributing to this massive unemployment. The cause is, of course, the pandemic. The solution is not to exclude the immigrants identified in this Proclamation, but to develop a coordinated response to the crisis that will protect all of the workers in this country–both native- and foreign-born–who will rebuild the economy over the coming months.”-Jennifer Breen, Professor of Law
