Donald Trump announced Monday that he plans to ban immigration into the United States amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The president tweeted: '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!'

At least 22 million Americans are now out of work as tough measures to control the coronavirus outbreak wiped out 13.5 percent of the workforce and 10 years of job growth.

In an address to the nation last month Trump announced a drastic ban on foreigners traveling to the United States from Europe. He had already banned travel from China as the COVID-19 outbreak was spreading from the city of Wuhan.

Exact details of this latest order were not immediately clear but migrant farm workers and medics are thought to be exempt, The Wall Street Journal reports.

It was also pointed out on Twitter that the U.S.-Canada border is already closed, most visa applications are on hold and the administration essentially shut down the nation's asylum system last month.

The White House has not commented on Trump's latest tweet but the order is likely to face legal challenges.

Trump's tweet came as the U.S. death toll from the virus topped 42, 000. The United States has by far the world's largest number of confirmed coronavirus cases, with more than 779,000 infections, up 20,000 on Monday.

Donald Trump announced Monday he will be banning immigration into the United States

The president tweeted Monday evening announcing his immigration plans

A general view from the looking south to the El Chaparral Port of Entry to Mexico March 21. The president tweeted Monday: '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!'

NBC News White House Correspondent Geoff Bennett tweeted: 'Immigration was already functionally shut down. The WH had closed the U.S.-Canada border and started deporting asylum-seekers without due process.

'International air travel has largely been suspended. Formalizing it serves as a simple way for Trump to rile up his base.'

Buzzfeed reporter Hamed Aleaziz added: 'Note also that the State Department had already suspended routine visa services at all US embassies and consulates.'

Texas congressman Joaquin Castro called Trump's announcement 'an authoritarian-like move to take advantage of a crisis'.

He tweeted: 'This action is not only an attempt to divert attention away from Trump's failure to stop the spread of the coronavirus and save lives, but an authoritarian-like move to take advantage of a crisis and advance his anti-immigrant agenda.

'We must come together to reject his division.

The president has taken credit for his restrictions on travel to the U.S. from China and hard-hit European countries, arguing it contributed to slowing the spread of the virus in the U.S.

During his Monday briefing Trump talked about his supporters and then pointed to his initial action on the coronavirus, a late-January travel ban from China, which excluded American citizens.

'And yet in January, a certain date - you know the date better than I do - we put on a ban of China, where China can't come in and before March we put on a ban of Europe, where Europe can't come in,' Trump said.

Sources told The New York Times the formal order banning new green cards and work visas could be implemented in days, shutting down legal immigration.

Trump's tweet came hours after the price of U.S. oil traded below $0 for the first time ever.

And there were 5.2 million new claims for unemployment benefits filed last week, according to the latest Labor Department figures released on Thursday.

The staggering number of first-time claims was on top of the 16.8 million applications filed since the virus took hold in mid-March.

Economists say the unemployment rate could reach as high as 20 percent in April, which would be the highest rate since the Great Depression of the 1930s. While accurate records didn't begin until 1948, economists say the unemployment rate rose to 25 percent in 1933.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents on the U.S. side tell people on the Mexican side to stand back at the Gateway International Bridge in Matamoros, Mexico on March 31. In an address to the nation last month Trump announced a drastic ban on foreigners traveling to the United States from Europe. He had already banned travel from China

John F. Kennedy Airport (JFK) stands mostly empty due to the ongoing cutbacks in travel because of the coronavirus on April 16. The White House had already closed the U.S.-Canada border and the administration essentially shut down the nation's asylum system last month

Trump's administration is currently relying on a seldom-used public health law to set aside decades-old national and international immigration laws.

People seeking refuge in the U.S. are whisked to the nearest border crossing and returned to Mexico without a chance to apply for asylum. It may be the most aggressive clampdown on immigration by a president who's made reducing asylum claims a top priority.

The administration tapped a law allowing the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to ban foreigners if their entry would create 'a serious danger' to the spread of communicable disease.

Due to the pandemic, almost all visa processing by the State Department, including immigrant visas, has been suspended for weeks.

Trump has made restricting immigration a central goal of his administration.

At least 22 million Americans are now out of work as tough measures to control the coronavirus outbreak wiped out 13.5 percent of the workforce and 10 years of job growth

Trump's attempt to stop immigration comes amid anti-lockdown protests across the United States.

Armed demonstrators waving Trump 2020 flags and ignoring social distancing rules called for America to reopen immediately on Monday.

Crowds gathered close to one another in North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania and California, calling for their 'liberty'. Armed militia groups protested alongside young families and Americans out of work, all calling for businesses to be reopened.

Some states — mostly Republican-led ones — have relaxed restrictions, and on Monday announced that they would take further steps to reopen their economies.

In a dispute that has turned political, the president has been agitating to restart the economy, singling out Democratic-led states and egging on protesters who feel governors are moving too slowly.

'I'm going to win in a LANDSLIDE!' Donald Trump claims his coronavirus response will win him the election saying 'people love Trump'

President Trump said Monday he was likely to win re-election by a 'landslide,' while complaining that the poll numbers for his administration's response to the coronavirus pandemic should be higher.

'A lot of people love Trump right? A lot of people love me. You see them all the time. I guess I'm here for a reason, you know. To the best of my knowledge I won. And I think we're going to win again, I think we're going to win in a landslide,' Trump said.

The president had been asked by PBS Newshour's Yamiche Alcindor if by downplaying the virus - for example, not wearing a mask - he got some people sick.

Alcindor spoke of an interview she had conducted with a person who said his family got sick 'because they listened to you' and didn't take enough precautions.

Instead of answering the question head-on, Trump talked about his supporters and then pointed to his initial action on the coronavirus, a late-January travel ban from China, which excluded American citizens.

'And yet in January, a certain date - you know the date better than I do - we put on a ban of China, where China can't come in and before March we put on a ban of Europe, where Europe can't come in,' Trump said.

Trump continued to hold campaign rallies through February and into early March. The president continued to point to his travel bans with China and Europe as proof that he did enough

In February and March the president made a number of questionable statements about the spreading coronavirus and also continued actively campaigning through early March.

When Alcindor pointed out that the president was still holding campaign rallies - such as a March 2 rally in Charlotte, North Carolina, he wouldn't admit that was the case.

'I really don't know about rallies. I really don't know about rallies,' he said when she insisted he was still campaigning in March. 'I know one thing I haven't left the White House in months,' he said, adding that the one time he did leave the White House was for a trip to Norfolk, Virginia on March 28 to bid adieu to the USNS Comfort - the hospital ship heading to New York.

President Trump said Monday that he believed he would win re-election 'in a landslide' after a reporter asked him if initially downplaying the coronavirus threat got some Americans sick

At another point in the briefing, Trump complained that poll numbers for his team's coronavirus response weren't higher.

'Look, I don't understand, when I see, uh, polling and approval ratings for the job,' he said. 'This group should get a 95, it really should. And we're really helping the governors a lot.'

The Real Clear Politics polling average says that 47 per cent approve of the president's handling of the coronavirus crisis with a slightly higher amount - 50.7 - disapproving of his actions.

The president suggested one problem was that 'the media foments a lot of anger.'

'For instance, I'll be asked a tremendously hostile question from somebody and then I'll answer it in a hostile way, which is appropriate otherwise you look foolish,' the president explained. 'Other it looks like you walk off the stage and bow your head.'

'I can't do that,' he said.