Suspension of Entry of Immigrants and Nonimmigrants Who Continue To Present a Risk to the United States Labor Market During the Economic Recovery Following the 2019 Novel Coronavirus Outbreak

Proclamation 10131 of December 31, 2020

Suspension of Entry of Immigrants and
Nonimmigrants Who Continue To Present a Risk to the
United States Labor Market During the Economic Recovery
Following the 2019 Novel Coronavirus Outbreak

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

In Proclamation 10014 of April 22, 2020 (Suspension of
Entry of Immigrants Who Present a Risk to the United
States Labor Market During the Economic Recovery
Following the 2019 Novel Coronavirus Outbreak), I
suspended, for a period of 60 days, the entry of aliens
as immigrants, subject to certain exceptions. In
Proclamation 10052 of June 22, 2020 (Suspension of
Entry of Immigrants and Nonimmigrants Who Present a
Risk to the United States Labor Market During the
Economic Recovery Following the 2019 Novel Coronavirus
Outbreak), I determined that the considerations present
in Proclamation 10014 remained, and I extended the
suspension of entry imposed in Proclamation 10014
through December 31, 2020. I further noted that the
Secretary of Labor and the Secretary of Homeland
Security had reviewed nonimmigrant programs and found
that the admission of workers within several
nonimmigrant visa categories also posed a risk of
displacing and disadvantaging United States workers
during the economic recovery following the COVID-19
outbreak. Consequently, I suspended, through December
31, 2020, the entry of any alien seeking entry pursuant
to certain nonimmigrants visas, subject to certain
exceptions.

The 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to
significantly disrupt Americans' livelihoods. While the
November overall unemployment rate in the United States
of 6.7 percent reflects a marked decline from its April
high, there were still 9,834,000 fewer seasonally
adjusted nonfarm jobs in November than in February of
2020.

The effects of COVID-19 on the United States labor
market and on the health of American communities is a
matter of ongoing national concern, and the
considerations present in Proclamations 10014 and 10052
have not been eliminated. The current number of new
daily cases worldwide reported by the World Health
Organization, for example, is higher than the
comparable number present during June, and while
therapeutics and vaccines are recently available for an
increasing number of Americans, their effect on the
labor market and community health has not yet been
fully realized. Moreover, actions such as States'
continued imposition of restrictions on businesses
still affect the number of workers that can be hired as
compared with February of 2020.

Given these factors, an extension of Proclamations
10014 and 10052 is appropriate as the President
continues to monitor the effects of the COVID-19
pandemic and assess whether a further continuation,
modification, or termination of Proclamations 10014 and
10052 is warranted.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the
United States, by the authority vested in me by the
Constitution and the laws of the United States of
America, including sections 212(f) and 215(a) of the
Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) (8 U.S.C. 1182(f)
and 1185(a)) and section 301 of title 3, United States
Code, hereby find that the entry into the

United States of persons described in section 1 of
Proclamation 10014, except as provided in section 2 of
Proclamation 10014, and persons described in section 2
of Proclamation 10052, except as provided for in
section 3 of Proclamation 10052 (as amended by
Proclamation 10054 of June 29, 2020 (Amendment to
Proclamation 10052)), would be detrimental to the
interests of the United States, and that their entry
should be subject to certain restrictions, limitations,
and exceptions. I therefore hereby proclaim the
following:

Section 1. Continuation of Proclamation 10014. Section
4 of Proclamation 10014 is amended to read as follows:

``Sec. 4. Termination. This proclamation shall
expire on March 31, 2021, and may be continued as
necessary. Within 15 days of December 31, 2020, and
every 30 days thereafter while this proclamation is in
effect, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall, in
consultation with the Secretary of State and the
Secretary of Labor, recommend any modifications as may
be necessary.''

Sec. 2. Continuation of Proclamation 10052. Section 6
of Proclamation 10052 is amended to read as follows:

``Sec. 6. Termination. This proclamation shall
expire on March 31, 2021, and may be continued as
necessary. Within 15 days of December 31, 2020, and
every 30 days thereafter while this proclamation is in
effect, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall, in
consultation with the Secretary of State and the
Secretary of Labor, recommend any modifications as may
be necessary.''

Sec. 3. Severability. It is the policy of the United
States to enforce this proclamation to the maximum
extent possible to advance the interests of the United
States. Accordingly:

(a) if any provision of this proclamation, or the
application of any provision to any person or
circumstance, is held to be invalid, the remainder of
this proclamation and the application of its provisions
to any other persons or circumstances shall not be
affected thereby; and
(b) if any provision of this proclamation, or the
application of any provision to any person or
circumstance, is held to be invalid because of the lack
of certain procedural requirements, the relevant
executive branch officials shall implement those
procedural requirements to conform with existing law
and with any applicable court orders.

Sec. 4. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this
proclamation shall be construed to impair or otherwise
affect:

(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or
the head thereof; or

(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget
relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

(b) This proclamation shall be implemented
consistent with applicable law and subject to the
availability of appropriations.
(c) This proclamation is not intended to, and does
not, create any right or benefit, substantive or
procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any
party against the United States, its departments,
agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or
agents, or any other person.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
thirty-first day of December, in the year of our Lord
two thousand twenty, and of the Independence of the
United States of America the two hundred and forty-
fifth.