Donald Trump, the former US president, has said he will issue green cards to migrants who graduate from US colleges as a means of granting them permanent residency and boosting US economic growth, US media reported.
He made the announcement on Thursday during a podcast interview with Silicon Valley tech investors. Trump promised to make it easier for talent to come to the US and said anyone who graduates from a US college should be able to stay in the country. Trump said during an appearance on the All-In Podcast hosted by Chamath Palihapitiya, Jason Calacanis, David Sacks and David Friedberg:
It’s so sad when we lose people from Harvard, MIT, the greatest schools, and lesser schools that are phenomenal schools also.
He also added:
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.
A green card gives the right to live and work permanently in the US and opens a pathway to citizenship.
He said it is unfair that these talents, capable of creating companies that could create jobs and employ thousands of Americans, which would strengthen the country’s economic potential, have to go back to their home countries after their studies. Trump noted:
I know of stories where people graduate 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, they do the same basic company in those places and they become multi-billionaires employing thousands and thousands of people, and it could have been done here.
