In a significant shift on immigration policy, former US President Donald Trump has proposed granting automatic green cards to foreign students graduating from US colleges, aiming to prevent them from returning to their home countries like India and China, where many become multibillionaires. This change comes ahead of the November presidential election, where immigration and deportation of illegal immigrants are key issues for voters.
Trump has consistently supported a merit-based legal immigration system. In the “All-In” podcast, hosted by venture capitalists Chamath Palihapitiya, Jason Calacanis, David Sacks, and David Friedberg, Trump expressed his desire to grant green cards to college graduates as part of their diplomas, including those from junior colleges.
“What I want to do and what I will do is — you graduate from a college, I think you should get a Green Card automatically as part of your diploma, a Green Card to be able to stay in this country. And that includes junior colleges too,” said Trump, 78, during the podcast.
A Green Card, officially known as a permanent resident card, is an identity document that shows a person has permanent residency in the United States.
Trump made these remarks when Calacanis urged him to increase the ability to “import the best and brightest around the world to America.” He lamented the stories of graduates from top colleges who wanted to stay in the US but had to return to their home countries, where they built successful companies.
“…and they become multi-billionaires employing thousands and thousands of people, and it could have been done here,” he said.
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Trump emphasized the loss of talent from top institutions like Harvard and MIT, as well as other excellent schools. He noted that his administration was set to implement this policy but was sidetracked by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Reiterating his first-term policy, Trump said foreign students should receive a Green Card after earning a degree in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) fields. “Anybody graduates from a college, you go in there for two years or four years, If you graduate or you get a doctorate degree from a college, you should be able to stay in this country,” he said.
He stressed the importance of retaining top graduates and allowing them to work in the US. “We force the brilliant people, the people that graduate from college, the people that are number one in their class from the best colleges, you have to be able to recruit these people and keep the people,” he asserted.
Trump promised immediate action on this issue. “That is going to end on day one,” he announced.
According to the latest annual Open Doors report by the Institute of International Education, over a million international students from more than 210 places of origin were studying at US higher education institutions during the 2022-23 academic year. China remained the top-sending country with 289,526 students, while India reached a record high of 268,923 students, an increase of 35% from the previous year. Overall, 53% of international students in 2022-23 were from China and India.
However, the market share has shifted, with students from China and India now comprising 27% and 25% of the total, respectively, compared to 33% from China and 18% from India in 2017-18.
Trump’s comments mark a departure from his previous immigration policies and are seen as an overture to wealthy business leaders he is courting as donors and supporters for his campaign. During his presidency, Trump sought to reform the immigration system to prioritize wealthy immigrants with valuable work skills or high education levels. However, his administration also implemented significant restrictions on green cards, visa programs, refugee resettlement, and other forms of legal immigration, reducing the number of lawful permanent residents entering the country.
He began his presidency by signing an executive order banning travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries and later supported a proposal to cut legal immigration by half. Throughout his term, Trump criticized the H-1B visa program, favored by tech companies for hiring foreign skilled workers, as a “theft of American prosperity.” The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa allowing US companies to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations requiring theoretical or technical expertise.
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