On December 16, President Trump issued a proclamation barring nearly all legal migration from some 40 countries. As my Cato Institute colleague David Bier explains in a thorough and insightful post, the new policy goes well beyond Trump's already expansive previous travel bans, causing great harm including separating many US citizens and permanent residents from spouses and children:
President Trump signed a new proclamation that bans nearly all legal immigration from about 40 countries, covering about one in five legal immigrants from abroad and nearly 400,000 legal immigrants over three years. Although it exempts some foreign workers and travelers from certain countries, this ban does not include any categorical exemption or waiver for spouses, minor children, or parents of US citizens or legal permanent residents, making it far harsher than his prior bans.
The ban repudiates the immigration system Congress created. The Trump administration is reimposing via executive order the national origins system that governed immigration policy from 1924 to 1965. After four decades of rigorous debate, Congress ended that system. In the Immigration Act of 1965, it allocated the caps on immigrant visas equally between countries and prohibited discriminating against immigrant visa applicants based on their race, sex, nationality, place of birth, or place of residence.
