The Executive Order 12711 was issued by American president George H. W. Bush on 11 April 1990. It deferred deportation of Chinese nationals and their direct dependents who were in the US between 5 June 1989 and 11 April 1990, waived the 2-year home country residency requirement, and gave them employment authorization through 1 January 1994.[1]
It was issued as part of the international backlash against the People's Republic of China (PRC) in response for its suppression of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre that occurred 4 June of that year. It was made permanent when the Chinese Student Protection Act was passed in 1992.
President Bush updates his Cabinet on developments related to China and the Tiananmen Square crisis on June 5, 1989.
GENERAL SCOWCROFT
Later in the morning of June 5, we arranged a meeting with Chinese students studying the United States, to symbolize our solidarity. There was a previously schedule session that afternoon with the congressional bipartisan leadership, to allow President Bush to review his just-completed European trip. He used the occasion to denounce the Chinese actions and outline the steps already taken in response. The leadership supported his cautious—on this occasion even Helms.The President was unwilling to leave our response completely negative. He wanted to communicate with the Chinese leaders, both so as not to sever contact at such a critical time or to try to explain to them the enormity, in the eyes of the world, of what they had done. I strongly agreed arguing that we had too much invested in the China situation to throw it away with one stroke. After some discussion he decided to phone Deng, an extraordinary measure in that direct calls to senior Chinese leaders were something we had never attempted before. But he was unable to get through.
