How Kenyans have been caught up in Trump’s immigration bans

Dr Joseph (last name withheld to protect his identity) is a Kenyan-born research scientist working at Neumann University in West Chester, Philadelphia.

Since he completed his doctorate at the same university 12 years ado, he has been living and working in the US on a temporary work permit – renewed every two years.

The permit, processed by Neumann university was up for renewal at the end of April, but because of the Covid-19 pandemic, his renewal application has been in limbo.

“This is why the recent announcement that the administration has suspended all work visas and permits until the end of the year hit me like a sledgehammer. I don’t know how I’m going to provide for my family since I’m not on the college payroll from April, and I can’t travel back to Kenya because the airports are still closed,” said Dr Joseph.

He is among scores of Kenyans now living and working in the US likely to get caught up in President Trump’s visa/permit freeze announced early in the week. Since taking power in January, 2017, President Donald Trump has made every effort to cut immigration to the US.

Using the current pandemic as an excuse to control even legal immigration, President Trump in April ordered suspension of immigration into the US in almost all legal categories apart from relatives of US citizens and members of the military.

He also allowed the immigration of individuals whose services are deemed essential in the fight against Covid-19. Following a report from the Labor Department, the President recently issued a devastating order halting employment-based immigration in addition to the earlier orders.

According to US-based Kenyan immi-gration lawyer Charles Wanjohi, during his entire term, Trump’s administration has been fighting employment-based immigration. He says immigration practitioners like himself have experienced increased denials of petitions.

“At this time, we are advising our clients to make efforts to comply with the available legal avenues as much as they can, to maintain their status. For those with pending petitions and applications, we are advising them to continue strengthening their cases by compiling more supporting evidence”. said Mr Wanjohi.

He added that even though the num-ber of Kenyans in the US who use these seasonal work permits is not as much as that of people from Mexico and Asian countries, there’s a significant number of Kenyan professionals who rely on renewable work permits. Many lawyers, immigration experts and activists see President Trump’s new immigration ban as nothing but a distraction.

“It will, in the long run, hurt the US economy more than the foreigners. US work visas like foreign aid do not help or develop the foreign countries but help the US economy,” said Dr David Amakobe, founder and CEO of African Wood Inc.

Dr Amakobe, a Kenyan resident of Middletown, Delaware, argued that since the ban coincides with border closures over Covid-19, it has no immediate effect. But should President Trump be re-elected, foreigners who work on work visas may have to consider other options.

“In the long term, with remote working having become the norm, they will have to work from less expensive countries but charge the same. They should start making those arrangements now,” Dr Amakobe said.

He added that US technology and innovation is very reliant on foreign experts. Like Britain under Margaret Thatcher, the US is relinquishing leadership and other countries are going to open up.

“President Trump is short-sighted but it serves him well politically. It is complicated to explain to Americans that import taxes (tariffs) are not paid by China but by them. It’s difficult to explain to Americans that the technol-ogy and innovation by foreign workers provide the products and services that make the dollar stronger,” Dr Amakobe said.

“In my view Covid-19 and President Trump are a gift to Kenyans to reset their perspective about the world and their place in it.”

Mr Wanjohi says that in fact it’s not only work permit visas that are deeply affected by Trump’s obsession with limiting migration into the US, other affected areas include asylum applications. “Our advice to those applying for asylum is to seek experienced legal services in the process,” he said. The new restrictions took effect on June 24.

By Chris Wamalwa, Sunday Nation

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