Editor’s Note: Due to COVID-19, TommieMedia staff members are working remotely. This is a special News in :90 report from Jack’s home in Chanhassen, Minn.
President Donald Trump said that he will sign an executive order “to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States” because of the coronavirus.
“In light of the attack from the Invisible Enemy, as well as the need to protect the jobs of our GREAT American Citizens, I will be signing an Executive Order to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States!” Trump tweeted late Monday.
He offered no details about which immigration programs might be affected by the order.
National security adviser Robert O’Brien earlier Tuesday cast the president’s announcement as a move to protect the American people’s health. O’Brien said the temporary immigration halt would not be “dissimilar” to limits on travel to the U.S. from China that Trump put in place in January.
“We’re trying to do everything, the president’s trying to do everything he can to put the health of the American people first during this crisis,” O’Brien said on Fox News Channel. “So this is one step. It’s not dissimilar to the restrictions on travel from China that he implemented back on Jan. 29 at the very outset of this public health crisis.”
In international news, the oil market plunged further on Tuesday on concerns over a collapse in demand as the pandemic leaves factories, cars and airplanes idled around the world.
The extreme volatility in energy markets highlights investors’ worries about the duration of the coronavirus outbreak and its impact on the economy. That is in turn weighing on financial markets more broadly, including stocks.
The benchmark U.S. oil contract was down $4.78 at just $15.65 per barrel on Tuesday, having traded as low as $11.79 a barrel at one point.
The drop comes a day after the price of oil fell below zero on Monday, partly due to technical factors as traders shifted from one futures contract to another. The U.S. oil contract for delivery in May settled at negative $37.63 per barrel on Monday, an indication that investors don’t want to be left holding oil at a time when storage facilities are almost full and demand is at its lowest since the mid-1990s.
The tumult in the oil market reflects uncertainty over where the world economy will head as governments begin to loosen controls imposed to contain the coronavirus.
In local news, Minnesota colleges will receive $180 million from the CARES Act, the Star Tribune wrote Friday. Private universities in Minnesota are expected to receive $40 million in federal stimulus aid, half of which must be used on direct cash grants to students.
In an April 9 letter, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos explained that the aid will be distributed based on student enrollment. DeVos also said institutions will be allowed to create their own plans on how to use these funds.
Mark Vangsgard, vice president for business affairs and chief financial officer at St. Thomas, feels it is too early to create a plan on how to distribute the grant.
“While there are general concepts on the CARES Act out there, we need more information and guidance before we can formulate a process,” Vangsgard wrote in an email.
“It is expected that the Department of Education will issue further clarification about issues related to the distribution and use of the student share funding in the CARES act sometime next week,” Vangsgard wrote.
Jack Stanek can be reached at stan5468@stthomas.edu.