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President Trump signed a presidential order Wednesday temporarily banning green cards for certain groups of people outside the United States, a sweeping move that implements restrictions on legal immigration by presidential proclamation.

The proclamation suspends access to green cards for family members of permanent residents who are outside of the United States, parents and siblings of US citizens abroad, and thousands of people who come to the country as part of a lottery system for 60 days.

Trump has previously derided the lottery program, which provides 50,000 green cards annually to those from countries with historically low rates of immigration to the US, as a “horror show.”

“The people that are sent to our country are not the people that we want,” Trump said in early 2019. “They come in through the lottery. They come in through chain migration.”

The practical impact of the order, for now, appeared to be limited. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the State Department has already suspended routine visa services at embassies and consulates across the world. The proclamation, however, includes a section that requires administration officials to recommend whether Trump should extend the order.

The policy will not apply to those coming to the country temporarily, such as agricultural workers or students, or to minor children or spouses of citizens who are outside of the US and applying for green cards. Nor does it apply to those who had the visas before Wednesday.

The administration also carved out exceptions for certain specialized workers, like nurses or doctors, along with foreign investors who spend money in the US and apply for green cards.

“I have determined that, without intervention, the United States faces a potentially protracted economic recovery with persistently high unemployment if labor supply outpaces labor demand,” Trump wrote in the proclamation. “Excess labor supply affects all workers and potential workers, but it is particularly harmful to workers at the margin between employment and unemployment, who are typically ‘last in’ during an economic expansion and ‘first out’ during an economic contraction.”