President Trump on June 22, 2020, ordered shut entry of guest workers in the United States at least till the end of this year. The order was part of White House’s larger scheme of cutting the immigrant workforce in steps.

By enforcing the ban, President Trump was siding with Americans wanting to stop non-immigrant workers. Now he was a sort of holding a ‘Not Welcome’ placard for foreign job seekers. Anyway, what he promises at rallies or campaigns does it in office. He has proven that on many occasions. The most affected by the ban would be those entering America on H1B visas. Indian IT workforce was likely to be hit badly.

Indian job seekers would find them at the order’s receiving end. Around 70 percent of 85,000 H1B visas issued every year went to Indian IT workers. Whether H1B was good or bad for foreign job seekers was a matter of hard talk. These temporary job permits enabled workers to stay in America for three years which they could extend by another three years. After six years they needed to apply afresh. But foreigners working in the United States say President Trump halting guest workers programs was not so welcome move.

However, going by the ongoing turmoil in the American society with respect to H1B and its ilk, the ban was on expected lines. Over the past few years, Americans have taken to the streets sometimes staging violent protests exerting pressure on Trump’s White House. The Novel Coronavirus pandemic gave enough ordnance to agitators. Americans claim 40 million jobs were lost in recent months and they say guest workers were contributing to large-scale job losses for Americans. They also claim temporary workers are stealing jobs from them.

Google and Alphabet CEO, Sundar Pichai (@sundarpichai) who is Indian-American was not happy with the ban. He said immigrants have helped America emerge as the leader in the tech world. “Immigration has contributed immensely to America’s economic success, making it a global leader in tech, and also Google the company it is today. Disappointed by today’s proclamation – we’ll continue to stand with immigrants and work to expand opportunity for all.”

The ban was not going to affect only ‘high salaried’ foreign workers. It was going to badly impact foreign caretakers of children. They are known as au pairs in the United States. Au pairs take care or babysit children and in turn get food, room, and pocket money from their job givers in America. Initially, they were not made part of the proposed ban. The order restricts spouses of American citizens as well. The ban stops American companies with global presence and foreign companies with American offices from ending executives in America for years-long stints, the New York Times reported Monday.

Stephen Miller, the White House aid and the force behind Trumps’ immigration policy, was pushing for a lasting ban on temporary work visa programs. He puts forth the same argument that guest workers steal jobs from Americans. Trump’s aid has his sleeves rolled for the long fight. However, the NYT in its report quoted Thomas J. Donohue, the chief executive of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, as saying that the ‘not welcome’ sign for engineers, executives, IT experts, doctors, nurses and other workers won’t help America. It will rather hold back the Americans.