Impact of COVID-19 on Immigration Policy
Through a series of executive orders and presidential proclamations from January 31 through August 2020, the Trump administration sharply limited immigration and immigration services, including enforcement, as the US struggled to contain the coronavirus. The combined impact on immigrants and their families has been severe. According to the American Immigration Council, tens of thousands of immigrants remain stuck in over-crowded jails, prisons, and detention centers as the courts that were to hear their cases either suspended activities or limited them because of the pandemic. At the same time, legislative COVID relief passed by Congress ignored the plight of millions of immigrant families who were facing an uncertain economic future.
