In a surprising turn of events, former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has proposed offering automatic green cards to foreign students graduating from US colleges. This proposal represents a significant departure from his traditionally hardline stance on immigration. Trump expressed this desire during an interview on Thursday (20 June) on the “All-In” podcast, hosted by venture capitalists and tech investors. He stated his intention to implement this policy on his first day in office, stating, “What I want to do and what I will do is 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, anybody graduates from a college. You go there for two years or four years.”
This proposal marks a dramatic shift from Trump’s typical anti-immigrant rhetoric. Offering green cards to potentially hundreds of thousands of foreign graduates could significantly expand America’s immigration system. Traditionally, Trump has linked illegal immigration to public safety risks and job losses for American citizens, and has previously promised the largest deportation operation in US history if re-elected.
The contradiction in Trump’s statement lies in his history of both attacking illegal and restricting legal immigration. While distinguishing between legal and illegal immigration, Trump has proposed restrictions on legal immigration during his presidency, including family-based visas and the visa lottery program. He issued the “Buy American and Hire American” executive order in 2017, aiming to award business visas only to the highest-paid or most-skilled applicants. Trump has criticized the H1-B visa program, used by companies to hire foreign workers temporarily, calling it “very bad” and accusing tech companies of using it to hire cheaper foreign labor. His administration has taken several steps to curb the use of skilled foreign workers, including attempting to force tens of thousands of foreign students to leave the US if their schools transitioned to online classes during the COVID-19 pandemic. This order was later rescinded following legal challenges and opposition from educational institutions.
Throughout his campaign speeches, Trump has consistently emphasized his hardline stance on immigration, often using inflammatory rhetoric. He has compared migrants to fictional characters like Hannibal Lecter and made unsubstantiated claims about migrants bringing contagious diseases. In 2019, he proposed a merit-based immigration system prioritizing highly skilled migrants but also signed an executive order in 2020 that froze new visas for foreign workers. Despite his new proposal, Trump blamed the COVID-19 pandemic for his inability to implement these measures while in office. He recounted stories of graduates from top colleges who wanted to stay in the US but were forced to return to their native countries, such as India and China, where they became successful entrepreneurs. “You need a pool of people to work for your company. And they have to be smart people. Not everybody can be less than smart. You need brilliant people,” Trump said.
Following the podcast, Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt issued a statement clarifying that only the most skilled graduates would be allowed to stay after “the most aggressive vetting process in US history.” “President Trump has outlined the most aggressive vetting process in US history, to exclude all communists, radical Islamists, Hamas supporters, America haters, and public charges. He believes, only after such vetting has taken place, we ought to keep the most skilled graduates who can make significant contributions to America,” Leavitt said.
The reaction to Trump’s proposal has been mixed. While some view it as a progressive step towards retaining talent in the US, others remain skeptical given Trump’s history of restrictive immigration policies. Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, policy director at the American Immigration Council, told Reuters, “I almost have to laugh because his administration adopted multiple policies aiming to restrict student visas and make it harder for people to stay in the country after graduating.” Venture capitalists and hosts of the “All-In” podcast, David Sacks and Chamath Palihapitiya, have shown support for Trump’s proposal. They hosted a fundraiser for Trump in San Francisco earlier this month, raising approximately $12 million for his campaign.
If implemented, Trump’s proposal could significantly increase the number of green cards issued. The US State Department estimated that the US hosted roughly one million international students in the academic year ending in 2022, with the majority from China and India. Granting green cards to these graduates could vastly expand the pathway to US citizenship. Now, campaigning for another term in the White House, Trump continues to focus on anti-immigrant rhetoric, which contrasts sharply with this latest proposal of the former US president.
