WATCH: Trump meets with tech workers and signs executive order on ‘hiring American’

Tech workers, Internet Service Providers, Web Developers and all US workers are impacted by this. President Donald Trump signs an executive order to prioritize hiring Americans amid the country’s growing economic crisis.

The coronavirus pandemic and resulting shutdown of businesses and workplaces led to widespread job losses and a peak unemployment rate of 14.7 percent in April — the highest since the Great Depression. The rate fell to 11.1 percent in June as many workplaces began to reopen. And yet, tech firms are still trying to hire non-US citizens during this time to fill jobs.

President Trump Today signed an executive order banning federal agencies from firing American citizens or green card holders and hiring foreign workers to do their jobs.

The executive order was first reported on by Bloomberg. According to the outlet, the order would put federal contractors that use H-1B visas for high-skilled jobs under increased scrutiny.

“Today, I am signing an executive order to ensure that the Federal government lives by a very simple rule: hire American,” Trump said at the signing event.

The order specifically targets the use of H-1B visas and requires federal agencies to prioritize hiring U.S. residents and green card holders before outsourcing contract jobs to foreign workers. The Department of Labor will also finalize guidance to prevent employers from moving H-1B workers to job sites that would displace American workers.

The order additionally requires federal agencies to complete an internal audit to determine whether they are only appointing U.S. citizens and nationals to government jobs in the competitive service.

H-1B visas are used for skilled workers and are common in the tech industry. They are the largest visa program of those included in Monday’s order, as such recipients can stay for multiple years.

Several Tennessee Valley Authority employees were in attendance for Monday’s announcement. TVA is a federally owned corporation created amid the Great Depression that provides utility services to parts of Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi and Kentucky, among other states.

The company was a target of outrage among immigration hawks and some conservatives earlier this year, both because of its CEO’s high pay and because of an announcement earlier this year that it would lay off roughly 60 American workers as part of outsourcing plans.

The president on Monday said he was removing two appointees to the TVA’s board of directors, including Chairman James Thompson. Trump nominated Thompson to the board in 2017.

The president also spoke critically of its CEO, Jeff Lyash, warning that he would seek his ouster. He later said the CEO had reached out and expressed openness to reversing course on outsourcing jobs, but Trump indicated he still hoped Lyash would agree to lower his salary.

Monday’s executive order is the latest in a series of unilateral actions Trump has taken on the immigration front amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Trump in late June signed an executive order to suspend the issuance of certain temporary worker visas through the end of 2020. He issued another executive order last month seeking to bar undocumented immigrants from being counted toward congressional apportionment in the census, and his administration announced last week a fresh review of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that Trump previously tried to end.

“The White House seems to be taking a more holistic approach to protecting American workers, meaning Peter Navarro’s trade and manufacturing policies meet immigration restrictions,” said R.J. Hauman, head of government relations at the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a group that advocates for restricting immigration.

“Not only is that desperately needed right now, it’s good politically,” Hauman continued. “Instead of focusing on Biden attacks and abstract GOP establishment concepts like ‘socialism sucks,’ maybe the Trump campaign will start pointing to steps taken to stop outsourcing and offshoring, among other things.”

Excerpts taken from Fox Business News. Read more on FoxBusiness.com