Even before the pandemic, he had lowered the annual cap for refugees to a trickle, shutting the United States off from war-torn countries like Syria or Somalia. “And for refugees seeking asylum, the asylum system has been totally decimated. The administration has also moved aggressively to reduce the flow of legal immigrants who have for decades sought to live and work in the United States. It has drafted new regulations aimed at making it harder for poor immigrants to qualify for entry into the United States, arguing that they would be a financial burden on the country. And it has aggressively sought to eliminate programs that allowed American companies to lure foreign workers to the United States for jobs.

Source: New York Times August 26, 2020 16:21 UTC