President Donald Trump said during Wednesday’s press briefing that he’d signed a proclamation to pause the issuing of green cards to certain people outside the United States.
The Migration Policy Institute (MPI) estimates that it could affect at least 52,000 people.
The order has a slew of exceptions such as health care workers, spouses of U.S. citizens, and children likely to be adopted.
Sarah Pierce, policy analyst for MPI in Washington, D.C., said the order will block about a third of people who get green cards in a year.
“But it’s hardly a pause on all immigration into the United States,” she said
Still, Pierce said it’s an extreme action to please the president’s base.
“If the president pulls this off, he’s vastly expanding the powers that the executive holds over immigration,” she said.
Pierce expects a legal challenge to the order will come quickly. But the U.S. Supreme Court has given the president broad power to block people from the country.
