as routine visa services were being suspendedcurrent data shows that while immigrants constitute 17 percent of the us workforce nearly 25 per cent of the countrys doctors and 20 per cent of nurses are immigrants the number going up to nearly a third in more open and diverse states such as california new york and new jersey and its not just the healthcare and medical sector that immigrants form the backbone of the system according to the national science foundation that more than half of the united states doctorate holders in engineering computer science and mathematics are foreignbornbut trumps nativist base largely constituting 30 of americas poorest and least educated states and replete with conspiracy theories and the belief that the pandemic is exaggerated has no bandwidth to deal with these numbers there is only one point in handing out hundreds of thousands of these visas to foreign nationals it is to placate big business railed fox news commentator tucker carlson if the point of this executive order was to protect american jobs it failedimmigration advocates though have little doubt that the executive order is just a first step by the president and a dog whistle to his nativist base to freeze the demographic changes and arrest the growing diversity in us pointing to the administrations move to deny stimulus checks to 1 million us citizens because they are married to immigrants who dont have social security numbersimmigrants are on the front lines of the coronavirus response putting their lives at risk to make sure our communities are fed healthy and safe the trump administration needs to stop using this pandemic as cover to implement their xenophobic agenda tweeted massachusetts senator elizabeth warren whose state like many of the more liberal enclaves in the us depends on and employs large numbers of immigrant physicians and healthcare workers