Trump falsely blames immigrants to help cover his incompetent response to COVID-19

“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!” –Tweet from President Donald Trump, April 20, 2020

These words could well have been written in 1882, when the United States government implemented the Chinese Exclusion Act, barring all Chinese immigration by claiming that Chinese workers were stealing American jobs and depressing wages. This was, of course, after decades of encouraging Chinese immigration to the U.S. as a source of cheap labor to build our railroads as well as tax revenue (codified through the Burlingame-Seward Treaty).

Or they could have been written in 1954, when our government implemented Operation Wetback, the largest mass deportation scheme in our history (and one specifically praised by our current president). This was, of course, after Mexican immigrants had been working American farms for years due to labor shortages caused by World War II (codified through the Bracero Program).

They could have been written at any point since the 1790s, based on our immigration system, which still refers to immigrants as aliens. A system which, before 1965, was based entirely on desired racial and ethnic demographics and restricted immigration based on national origin accordingly. And a system that has consistently associated “aliens” with dangerous criminality, infectious disease, and depressing wages for “native” Americans.

Our president is simply repeating the same xenophobic rhetoric that has dominated our immigration system and any related dialogue throughout our history. He began his campaign by referring to Mexicans as rapists and criminals. One of his first acts as president was to implement the travel ban for majority Muslim countries. And now he can claim, just as baselessly, to protect America from a foreign disease—an “invisible enemy”—by shutting down immigration to the U.S. during a global pandemic that he has managed with deep and profound incompetence well before first case was reported. A virus is not constrained by borders. Trump is attempting to revive the worst sentiments from our history to absolve himself of his incompetence.

The only way that we can get through this is by working together, for each other and the most vulnerable among us. Our president can only think to divide us and make us distrust each other. It is a tactic that has been historically successful, but we do not have to repeat that history.

Our economy is driven by our people. It is not the stock market. It is small business owners, who make up 99 percent of all businesses and create 66 percent of all jobs, and of which over a quarter are started by immigrants. During this crisis, it is our essential workers. It is our physicians, one in four of whom are foreign born. It is our nurses, 18 percent of whom are immigrants; our pharmacists, 20 percent of whom are immigrants. It is our women, who now make up one in three essential workers, including nine out of 10 nurses and nursing assistants, a majority of respiratory therapists, a majority of pharmacists and an overwhelming majority of pharmacy aides and technicians. More than two-thirds of the workers at grocery store checkouts and fast food counters are women. Over half are women of color and immigrants.

Our government should be providing for our small businesses now, instead of prioritizing Paycheck Protection Program funding to big businesses. Securities & Exchange Commission filings show 71 publicly traded companies received funding from the Small Business Administration’s $349 billion emergency Paycheck Protection Program before the money ran out last week.

Our government should be coordinating the distribution of crucial testing and supplies to our states, instead of forcing states to bid against each other. Our healthcare workers are going to work every day with inadequate PPE, using bandanas and scarves rather than the N95 respirators they need. As of last week, an estimated 9,000 healthcare workers tested positive for COVID-19, which is likely a gross undercount due to the lack of available testing.

People are dying because of the words and actions of this floundering president, who would rather stoke xenophobic rhetoric instead of truly working to protect this country. This November, there will be an election that, for many reasons, will determine the kind of country we choose to be. One that is mired in the self-serving pursuit of power through division and strife, or one that recognizes and celebrates what has always made it great: the immigrants that built it.

It’s up to us now to make the right decision for our country.

Nima Kulkarni is the state representative of the 40th District in Jefferson County and an immigration lawyer.