THE BIG STORY

A 60-day immigration ban. Sort of.

During yesterday’s coronavirus briefing, President DonaldTrump elaborated on the temporary immigration ban that he first floated in a tweet on Monday night, giving a little more detail on who it will and won’t prevent from entering the country.

There will be a 60-day ban on foreigners applying for permanent residency, also known as a green card. The ban, as Trump described it, will not apply to people entering the US temporarily, such as guest workers employed on farms and foreign professionals hired for white-collar jobs in US offices.

"There will be some people coming in, but it's, it's a strong order,” Trump said. “It involves a big circle, as you know.” He hinted that the ban could be modified or expanded as time goes on, and that the text of the order, including many of the details that are still unclear, will likely be released today.

The looming ban has a lot of families scared. “Clients were calling and asking what does Trump's [order] mean?,” one immigration attorney said. “‘Are family members banned from coming to the US? If my green card gets denied, I will be out of status, do I have to go back to my home country? My kids are in college, what happens with my kids legal status?’”

IT'S NEWS O'CLOCK

Our new podcast is live!

BuzzFeed News launched its new daily podcast this week, and it’s wonderful. In the latest episode of News O'Clock, Hayes Brown and Casey Rackham speak with a local TV news reporter in Lansing, Michigan, talking about covering the coronavirus outbreak and lockdown protests there. Check it out here!

SNAPSHOTS

Canadan Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is calling for a national ban on all assault-style weapons in the wake of the country’s deadliest mass shooting. At least 23 people were killed by a gunman in Nova Scotia over the weekend.

Facebook has invested $5.7 billion into Jio, India’s largest mobile network. It’s the largest foreign investment ever made into India’s technology sector.

The Los Angeles Police Department will stop using a controversial tool that uses artificial intelligence to predict where crimes will happen. The LAPD cited budget constraints as the reason for dropping the software.

A survivor of child sex trafficking will be freed from prison where she is serving a 21-year sentence for killing her pimp. Alexis Martin, who appeared in Kim Kardashian West's documentary, was pardoned by Ohio Governor Mike DeWine.

Getty Images

HELP US KEEP QUALITY NEWS FREE FOR ALL

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THE PEOPLE HIT HARDEST

What we’re talking about when we talk about essential workers

New York City has been hit harder than any other city in the world by the coronavirus, and it’s essential workers have borne the brunt of it. Those workers — nurses, cleaners, bus drivers and frontline retail staff — are more than 70% black, Latino and Asian, Kadia Goba reports, and the virus has been most deadly in the working class neighborhoods where they live.

“We divided the city at the beginning of the coronavirus into essential employees and nonessential employees and that term was used all over the city,” Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams said. “I heard it. I said, ‘This is coded language.’”

“Black and brown people went to service this city and then went home and spread the virus among their citizens,” said Adams, who has personally lost five close friends to the outbreak in the last week alone.

(Andrew Kelly / Reuters)

GENERATION FREEFALL

Come hang out with me on Friday

What’s it like to be fresh out of college right now, entering the job market during the worst economic times in living memory? Ryan Brooks spent weeks talking to young people born in the late 1990s and early 2000s, who are entering adulthood as the coronavirus reshapes the world.

Want to hear more? I’ll be hosting a live streamed Q&A with Brooks to talk about his story and take questions from our BuzzFeed News members. Come and join us! It’s this Friday, April 24, at 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT. All the details can be found here.

THE ETERNAL COACHELLA OF THE MIND

Coachella isn’t happening. Long live Coachella.

On one level, the music festival and popular Instagram backdrop known as Coachella is absolutely not happening this year. But on a deeper level, Coachella is always happening, if we believe it in our hearts.

This deeper, more eternal Coachella of the mind is the one that influencers are still getting ready for. The festival is off, but the content lives on, so YouTubers are still churning out videos of how they’ll be doing their hair and makeup, getting their outfits together, recommending absolutely killer accessories and of course, making the obligatory mention of a friendly sponsor.

It's true, if you believe it (via Sarah Betts on YouTube)

“It’s a way of thinking, not a destination,” one YouTuber told Tanya Chen. Another described the advantages of the “homechella” she’s attending this year. “I control the music, I control the vibe, I control the food I put in my mouth, and can avoid the overpriced festival snacks,” she said. “I'm happy.”

The truest Coachella is whatever you do from 6-10pm this Saturday,
Tom