President Donald Trump has taken a softer stance toward overseas students, especially those from India and China. In his recent statements, Trump not only welcomed Chinese students but also encouraged foreign students, particularly those from China and India, to stay in the United States after graduation and develop businesses there.
Around 277,000 of the 1.1 million foreign students enrolled at U.S. universities are Chinese, second only to Indians.
At a press briefing, when asked if he is still concerned about the national security issues with Chinese students studying in the United States, Trump said, “Look, I’ve always been in favor of students coming in from other countries. That includes China. And we have 500,000 Chinese students coming in.
I’ve always been in favor of it. Does it mean that you have to watch people? Yeah, you have to watch students, but you have to watch other people also. So, I’ve always been strongly in favor of it.”
What Trump also stressed is the contribution foreign students can make to the US economy. “I’m also in favor of having them stay. I’ve been in favor of letting them stay. If you get educated for four years, you’re willing to get educated for four years.
I like people being able to stay. You know, they have some great students. They go four years. To me, that’s almost like, you know, getting your — just buying your way in, in a very legitimate way. And you know, you have stories where Apple wants to hire somebody, and they can’t hire because they can’t stay.
And I’m all for making sure that people like that can go to work for all of our great companies.”
Trump said he wants foreign students to stay after their studies and start companies in America, which, according to him, is not happening now. “And you know what they do? They go back to their country, and some stories are all over the place. They go back to their company, and they start a company just like they were going to start here. They end up starting it in China or India or someplace else, and now they’re among the richest people in the world.
They’ve got thousands and thousands of employees that make a great — this is happening all the time, because they’re not allowed to stay. And I’m — I think we’ll probably end up doing something about that.”
President Trump has announced he had come to an agreement with China on students “using our colleges and universities”, a potential pullback from US officials’ aggressively revoking Chinese visas. The president announced a trade deal with China, stating it was pending approval from both sides, but provided no details.
The decision to relax a clampdown on America’s second-largest international student group came as a surprise, which has been under scrutiny since Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s May 28 proposal to revoke Chinese student visas.
Trump said that having Chinese students at U.S. schools “has always been good with me!”
International students face visa cancellations due to minor violations and pro-Palestinian activists’ attempts, with increased security vetting procedures and paused new application appointments.
Trump’s travel ban has led some universities to advise incoming students from countries on the list to defer enrollment.