President Joe Biden lifts Trump-era ban blocking most legal immigration to the U.S.

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President, Joe Biden. Photo: The Associated Press

U.S President Joe Biden on Wednesday lifted a freeze on green cards issued by his predecessor during the pandemic that lawyers said was blocking most legal immigration to the United States.

Former President Trump halted the issuance of green cards in the spring of last year until the end of 2020 in the name of protecting the coronavirus-wracked job market — a reason that Trump gave to achieve many of the cuts to legal immigration that had eluded him before the pandemic.

On Dec. 31, 2020, the former president extended those orders until the end of March.

Trump had deemed immigrants a “risk to the U.S. labor market” and blocked their entry to the United States in issuing Proclamation 10014 and Proclamation 10052.