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US President Joe Biden has planned to rescind strict limits on legal immigration. A top White House official said that former President Donald Trump said these limits were necessary to protect US workers during the coronavirus-induced economic recession. Esther Olavarria informed US mayors over the weekend that Biden plans to sign an executive order rescinding the proclamation that suspended certain immigrant and work visas. Point to be noted that Olavarria is deputy director of the White House Domestic Policy Council and one of the president’s top immigration advisers. Olavarria said the upcoming order would rescind the Trump proclamations that precluded the admission of immigrants and non-immigrants either deemed to be a financial burden on our health care system or deemed to present a risk to US labor markets.

Olavarria delivered his words during the United States Conference of Mayors’ 89th winter meeting. He said, “These were policies that ignored the decades, and centuries actually, of contributions that immigrants have made to our economy, to our society, to our culture. So we would rescind those policies and return to a country that welcomes immigrants and acknowledges their contributions”. It is unclear when Biden to sign the proclamation, but his plans to issue several immigration actions on Friday has been delayed. Olavarria’s remarks represent the first indication of the Biden administration’s views on the visa limits. Biden did not address the policy during the campaign and transition. It is noteworthy that former president Trump ordered a 3-month extension of the restrictions.

These restrictions were first enacted in April 2020 as a ban on some prospective immigrants and broadened in June to also suspend several temporary work visas, like the H-1B program. Trump’s proclamation is currently set to expire on 31^st March 2021. It prohibits the issuance of some immigrant visas for people seeking to move to the US permanently through green card petitions filed by their US family members or prospective employers. Spouses and children 21 or younger of US citizens are not subject to the visa limits. It also exempts some health care workers fighting the pandemic, as well as wealthy immigrants who agree to invest more than $1 million in US projects. Trump’s proclamation also froze the diversity visa lottery to move to the US.