Former United States President and current Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has made a surprising proposal to offer automatic green cards to foreign students graduating from US colleges. This seems to be a significant turn from his hardline stance on immigrants.
Speaking on the All-In podcast, hosted by venture capitalists Chamath Palihapitiya, Jason Calacanis, David Sacks, and David Friedberg, three of whom are immigrants, Trump emphasized the need to retain talented graduates.
“You graduate from a college, I think you should get automatically, as part of your diploma, a green card to be able to stay in this country and that includes junior colleges too,” Trump said on the podcast.
A green card, also known as a permanent resident card, allows individuals to live and work permanently in the United States and is a path to US citizenship.
Trump’s remarks came as he was pressed by Calacanis to “promise us you will give us more ability to import the best and brightest around the world to America”. Trump replied that there are “stories where people graduated from a top college or from a college, and they desperately wanted to stay here, they had a plan for a company, a concept, and they can’t”.
“They go back to India, they go back to China…and they become multi-billionaires employing thousands and thousands of people, and it could have been done here,” he added.
Trump reiterated his first-term policy, about foreign students getting a Green Card after receiving a degree from a higher education institution in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) field.
U.S. lawmakers from both parties in the past have proposed legislation that would make it easier for certain college graduates to remain in the country.
Trump’s Anti-Immigration Rhetoric
Trump has previously at many occasions blamed illegal immigrants for committing crimes, stealing jobs and draining government resources. He has controversially suggested that these immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country”. Trump has promised to implement the largest deportation operation in US history if he is re-elected.
In 2017, shortly after taking office, Trump issued the “Buy American and Hire American” executive order. This directive urged Cabinet members to propose reforms ensuring business visas were awarded only to the highest-paid or most-skilled applicants to protect American workers.
He has also criticized the H1-B visa program, which is commonly used by companies to temporarily hire foreign workers, labeling it as “very bad” and accusing tech companies of using it to hire foreign workers at lower wages.
Backlog Of Green Card Applications
The green card approval process has seen significant delays, with pending applications increasing from 10 million in 1996 to nearly 35 million as of February 2024. Its approval rates have also seen a significant drop from 7.6% to under 4% during the same period.
A report by America’s CATO Institute has stated that only about 3% of applicants in FY 2024 are expected to receive permanent status in the United States, leaving the vast majority, 97%, without green cards.
(With inputs from agencies)