Donald Trump has announced he is suspending immigration to the US amid the coronavirus crisis – a move critics denounced as both an act of partisan politics and an attempt to distract attention from the pandemic.

On a day when he also mocked both Republican and Democratic governors who had rejected his claims the nation had access to sufficient virus testing and ventilators, the president tweeted that he was temporarily suspending immigration.

“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,” he wrote.

It was not immediately clear whether he was talking about specific immigration programmes, such as the H-2A visa that allows farmworkers to enter the country for a specific period of time.

Such workers are essential for the agriculture industry in places such as California and Washington state, where farm owners and growers often complain local people have no interest working in the fields.

The president made no mention of his plan at his daily briefing on Monday, when he spent time criticising both Republican and Democratic governors who had been critical of the administration’s response to the pandemic.

The president was elected having promised to crackdown hard on immigration, vowing to build a wall on the US’s southern border with Mexico, and stepping up deportations of people without documents.

Earlier this month, the Washington Post reported on how the president had used the crisis to shelve regulations put in place to protect victims of trafficking, and others.

He claimed “mass, uncontrolled cross-border movement” at the border had pushed him to act, and that he was protecting US immigration officials and agents. Officials claimed it would also help stop the spread of the virus in detention centres operated by US immigration authorities.

On Monday night, critics said the president was looking for people to blame for the pandemic, and avoid taking responsibility.

“We need testing, not scapegoats,” tweeted economist ​David Rothschild. “Groups President Trump have blamed while avoiding any responsibly for his willful negligence & corruption that have killed 43,000 (and counting): Chinese, Democratic governors, Media, doctors & nurses, WHO, immigrants.”

Texas congressman Joaquin Castro, chair of the congressional Hispanic caucus, said: “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.”

Others suggested it was a move intended to please his supporters.

“Immigration was already functionally shut down. The WH had closed the US-Canada border and started deporting asylum-seekers without due process,” tweeted NBC News White House correspondent Geoff Bennett.

Loading....

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

The president’s tweet came as the the total number of infections in the country reached 750,000 and the number of deaths passed 42,000.

With the country facing potential economic catastrophe as the impact of the lockdown, the president has been seeking to reopen businesses as quickly as possible, encouraging individual governors to take the lead. At the same time, top health officials have warned the dangers of ending the lockdown too soon could result in more infections and more deaths.

More than 22m Americans have filed for unemployment benefits in the last four weeks.