Industry body National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) on Tuesday said that the Trump administration’s decision to bar the entry of certain nonimmigrants into America and setting new conditions for others is ‘misguided and harmful’ to the US economy.

The proclamation comes into effect from June 24 and will expire on December 31. These curbs are expected to impact a large number of Indian IT professionals and several American and Indian companies who were issued H-1B visas by the US government for the fiscal year 2021 beginning October 1.

The trade body in its statement urged the US administration to shorten the duration of these restrictions to 90 days.

It said, “this new proclamation will impose new challenge and possibly force more work to be performed offshore since the local talent is not available.”

NASSCOM also highlighted that its members provide essential services to hospitals, pharmaceutical and biotech companies, state and local government agencies, financial institutions, technology and communications firms, grocers, manufacturers, and thousands of other businesses across the United States. It added that “highly skilled non-immigrants are playing critical roles in the delivery of these services and the development of these services and products. Without their continued contributions to the US economy, the economic pain would worsen, industry would slow, and the timeline for a treatment and cure of COVID-19 would lengthen.”

“Moreover, the people who come to the United States on H-1B and L-1 visas pay taxes and contribute to their communities and to local economies in myriad other ways as well,” it said.

NASSCOM urged the US administration to shorten the duration of these restrictions to 90 days, saying lengthening these “burdensome restrictions” on US companies that are trying to recover from the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic will “only serve to harm” the economy.

“…We hope that the administration will rethink its stated plans to move forward on a series of regulatory changes that would place additional restrictions and costs on visa programs while doing little more than amplifying the harm already being done to the US economy,” it added.

NASSCOM noted that “thousands of US corporations, universities, medical facilities, research institutions, directly and through their associations have asked the President not to take such action because of the harm it would do now and going forward as the country reopens and recovers. Such sentiments were also echoed by dozens of Republican and Democratic members of Congress and governors.”

NASSCOM noted that American workers are facing greater challenges than they have in years, but that does not mean that talent shortages do not continue to exist.

“Despite national unemployment trends across the economy, the National Foundation for American Progress found that the unemployment rate for computer professionals actually went down from 3% in January 2020 to 2.8% in April 2020, according to its analysis of the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Current Population Survey,” it said.

In the end, it added, “We urge the Administration to shorten the duration of these restrictions to 90 days. Lengthening these burdensome restrictions on U.S. companies that are trying to recover from the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic will only serve to harm our economy.”

Meanwhile, Google CEO Sunder Pichai has also expressed disappointment over the proclamation and said he would stand with immigrants and work to expand opportunity for all.

Human rights bodies, in particular those working among immigrant communities, as well many American lawmakers have also urged Trump to revoke the suspension.