New Delhi: United States President Donald Trump on Monday announced that he will soon sign an executive order that will temporarily suspend all immigration into America, terming the coronavirus as ‘invisible enemy’. US which remains the most severely affected country of the world as the death toll hovers around 40k and total positive cases stand near 7.5 lakh, will close its boundaries for entrants to save the jobs of Americans, Trump said.

The number of people killed in the US due to COVID-19 has reached 42,094, according to Johns Hopkins University, and more than 750,000 cases have been confirmed.

"In light of the attack from the Invisible Enemy, as well as the need to protect the jobs of our GREAT American Citizens, I will be signing an Executive Order to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States! Trump said in a tweet late on Monday night.

Details of the Trump's executive order were not immediately known. He also did not indicate when he will sign such an order.


While Trump talked about suspending immigration visa, the H-1B visa, which is more popular among Indian IT professionals, is a non-immigrant visa. But his reasoning that he needs to protect jobs of American citizens indicates that non-immigrant work visas too might be on his target.

The United States, due to coronavirus, has experienced a record layoff. As off last week, a record number of 22 million Americans have applied for unemployment benefits.

Trump has already closed the Northern and Southern border that attracts a large number of illegal immigrants. Travel restrictions and closing of consulate services in many countries including India are already having an impact on issuing of new H-1B visas.

Last month, the United States suspended all routine visa services around the world due to the global coronavirus pandemic.