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Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump promised in a podcast interview that foreign-born college graduates would receive legal permanent residency if he’s re-elected president in November, The Washington Post reported Friday.
“Let me just tell you that it’s so sad when we lose people from Harvard, MIT, from the greatest schools, and lesser schools that are phenomenal schools also,” Trump said. “If you graduate or you get a doctorate degree from a college, you should be able to stay this country.”
Trump has made cracking down on immigration a centerpiece of his political messaging, and in his first term, administration officials sought to restrict the Optional Practical Training program, which allows international students to work in the U.S. for up to three years after graduating. In 2015 he signaled support for extending green cards to college grads. On the recent podcast, he said that he wanted to put the policy in place during his first term, but that plan was derailed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Students who graduated from any two-year or four-year institution would be eligible for green cards, he said.
“Somebody graduates at the top of the class, they can’t even make a deal with a company because they don’t think they’re going to be able to stay in the country,” he said of the current problem. “That is going to end on day one.”
A campaign spokeswoman subsequently told the Post that not every graduate would qualify. They would be vetted, she said, to prevent “communists, radical Islamists, Hamas supporters, America haters and public charges” from getting green cards.
“He believes, only after such vetting has taken place, we ought to keep the most skilled graduates who can make significant contributions to America,” the spokeswoman said. “This would only apply to the most thoroughly vetted college graduates who would never undercut American wages or workers.”
