On Monday, President Donald Trump made a proclamation that the United States is blocking the H-1B visas for foreign skilled workers, and L visas, for managers and specialized workers being transferred within a company.

“In addition, pursuant to proclamation 10014, the Secretary of Labor and the Secretary of Homeland Security reviewed nonimmigrant programs and found that the present admission of workers within several nonimmigrant visa categories also poses a risk of displacing and disadvantaging United States workers during the current recovery,” the proclamation partly reads.

Included in the ban are those who the H-2B seasonal workers visas to enter the United States.

The development has stirred criticism from both the tech industries and the immigration council; critics say it’s another measure the Trump administration is using to achieve its anti-immigration aim, as he said the decision was based on saving jobs for the American people in the face of crippling effect of COVID-19 on the labor market.

But a senior administration official, who spoke to the press, said that the ban, which takes effect on Wednesday, and will last until the end of the year, will provide up to 525,000 jobs for the US workers. He added that the aim has been to “get Americans back to work as quickly as possible.”

However, the proclamation exempts those already in the US, and those abroad who have valid visas, as long as they have an official travel document that permits entry into the United States.

The ban does not affect those whose services are considered to be in national interest. For instance, the food supply chain workers. But those on work-authorized J visas for cultural exchange opportunities, which includes camp counselors and au pairs, as well as visas for the spouses of H-1B workers are affected.

Leading tech companies say the decision would hurt the US job markets. The BSA, the Software Alliance members which include Microsoft and Slack, in a statement, urged the administration to “refrain from restricting employment of highly-skilled foreign professionals.” They said “The restrictions will negatively impact the US economy and decrease job opportunities for Americans.”

Reuters reported that Sarah Pierce, a policy analyst with the Washington-based Migration Policy Institute, estimated that the new ruling would block 219,000 foreign workers through the end of 2020.

“This is introducing more chaos into an already chaotic situation for a lot of US companies. The administration is making the assumption that these companies did not already look at the US labor market, which most of them do before they get involved in a complicated process of trying to bring in foreign workers,” she said.

But Trump seems not to care about what the US labor market really needs. Part of the proclamation restricts some foreigners from permanent residence in the United States, but it narrowly opens a window for more medical professionals, only those working on coronavirus research and care.

According to a White House official, the administration plans to rework the H-1B visa program so that the 85,000 yearly visas will go to the highest bidders, not through visa lottery. And it is working to make it harder for companies to use the H-1B visa program to train foreign workers to perform the same job in another country.

Part of the administration’s aim is to block asylum seekers’ work permits. Reuters reported that a separate asylum measure that would greatly limit asylum seekers’ access to work permit is set to be finalized on Friday.

The justification was seen on the proclamation where it’s stated that jobs, such as the one done by asylum seekers put Americans up for job competition.

“Americans workers compete against foreign nationals for jobs in every sector of our economy, including against millions of aliens who enter the United States to perform temporary work,” it said.

However, the American Immigration Council said Trump is seeking an interest not related to the health crisis, that his aim is to change the immigration system.

“This is another thinly-veiled attempt to implement radical changes to our immigration system, and to limit the number of citizens who are able to come to the US. This is not about public health or the economy,” the Immigration Council tweeted.

The Council added that the shutdown will not be temporary as claimed by Trump, that his administration will continue to find “excuses to justify extending this ban.”

It’s becoming a common belief that Trump is giving more attention to immigration in the face of global health crisis to woo voters, as he could no longer count on the economy devastated by coronavirus, and his approach to it that has infuriated many Americans.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said in response that none of the proclamation is about COVID-19, that Trump is looking for ways to exploit the immigration system.

“Trump just announced new restrictions on temporary workers visas, yet another attack on our immigration system. This is not a response to COVID-19 or an economic crisis. It’s the exploitation of a pandemic to reshape immigration law, while superseding congress,” ACLU tweeted.

Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, joined voices with Democrats to condemn the proclamation. She said “ it is a new season of the same racist, xenophobic show put on by Donald Trump.”

“But Trump’s transparent effort to rally his base and distract from his innumerable failures, including his disastrous response to COVID-19, will not work. Indeed, the courts will stop his unlawful actions targeting immigrants. Like the past versions of this overused script using a pandemic to justify white nationalist policies, it deserves to be cancelled,” she added.

Domestic violence is another worrisome issue that is on the increase. The scariest and most disturbing aspect of this social offence is the killing and maiming of partners. The worst thing here is that domestic violence does not only happen among married couples. We also see this act amongst people that are still in courtship or even dating. Even teenagers are beginning to kill their partners, who they believe are cheating on them. This then makes one ask what exactly is going on.

Note that domestic violence is not gender-specific. Both male and female genders can be victims and offenders. This heinous act also cuts across different ages and social classes. This is to say, that the problem has nothing to do with age, class, educational attainment, or gender.

The society has received its share of the blame for being the cause of domestic violence. We also blame parental care for it. We apportion blames to drug abuse, and peer and social media influences for the increase in domestic violence. But, we seem to be missing other vital causes of domestic violence – psychological and mental health.

Just this past Sunday, June 21, 2020, we received horrific news about a man that butchered his wife before taking his own life. This sad event happened at Victory Park Estate, Lekki, Lagos State. Story has it that the man is suspicious that his second child isn’t his. However, it is not known whether he went for a DNA test to ascertain the paternity of his child. Unfortunately for the wife, she lost her life because her husband suspected her of infidelity.

The gruesome way this woman was murdered will tell you that this man is a psycho. No human in his right senses will put another person he/she claims to love (or even hate) through such pains as this woman must have passed through before bleeding to death. We can’t even kill animals like that. To crown it all, the man ended his own life painfully by drinking Sniper, an insecticide.

In most churches in Nigeria, before a person gets married, he/she will be asked to carry out certain medical tests (usually HIV and genotype tests) and attend marriage preparatory classes. Some churches, like the Catholic Church, will insist that the pre-marriage classes should be attended by the couple for a minimum of six months. Most of the things taught in the class are matters surrounding challenges couples face in marriage and how they can overcome them. The medical tests couples are subjected to are expected to help in preventing future clashes in their marriages. For instance, couples that both have AS genotype will be discouraged from continuing with their marriage plans. However, I have not seen anyone that wasn’t wedded because of their genotypes.

These tests and classes are good. But to be honest, they will not really stop domestic violence. Most people attending those classes are not really there to learn. They only want to fulfil the requirements for which the church will wed them. As for the tests taken, that is good as well. But then, there is a need for more tests and checks.

Two more Checks that should be done before Marriage is Licensed

• Psychological and Mental Tests

Going back to the causes of domestic violence, I made mention of psychological and mental wellbeing. Some people that are not fit to marry and handle challenges that come with marriages are answering somebody’s husband or wife. The only thing that people like this need to snap is a little stress, doubt or suspicion. But if couples planning to marry are sent to be tested on their mental and psychological health, trust me, a lot of bad marriages will be prevented. The couples may not be banned from getting married, anyway, but at least they will know what they are up against. This way, they will always stay at alert in case their partners started behaving abnormally.

Some people may see this as an intrusion of privacy. However, since it involves the lives of two different people, and their children, there is a need to protect the people that might be affected by the person’s mental or psychological state. This condition needs to be considered as soon as possible.

• Background Check

In the olden days, people conducted background checks on the prospective spouses of their children. Any unsatisfactory discovery about the spouse or his/her immediate and distant family will lead to automatic discontinuation of the marriage procedures. That was actually possible in those days because people married from villages that were close-by. Today, the case is different. People meet in cities and marry. Hardly do people check on their spouses’ lives in the past to know what they are capable of. Even those that did so believe that mistakes of the youth cannot be revisited in adulthood. This might be true in some cases, but in most cases, it might be deadly.

It may be unlawful to demand that couples carry out background checks on one another and submit their findings; but it will be good if the option is left open. More interest here should be paid to past activities that showed violence or mental disorder. It will also be good to check on the person’s criminal history to be sure he or she isn’t involved in crimes of any sort or involved with associations that encourage violence. These were some of the things our forefathers checked before permitting marriages and it worked for them. Maybe we need to revisit the olden ideologies.

There are still other things that need to be done to discourage the increase in domestic violence. But as we work out ways to make marriages blissful once again, let us first consider these listed options.