Screen capture from the "All-In Podcast" uploaded on YouTube
Mr. Trump’s surprising remark during the “All-In Podcast” on June 21 was a great reversal from the new strict policies and restrictions he enacted during his presidency. He stated to the host, David Sacks, a Silicon Valley investor who was linked to his previous presidential campaign, that he saw high levels of immigration as an “invasion of our country.”
However, Jason Calancanis, another investor and host of the podcast. pressed for Mr. Trump to keep the “best and brightest around the world in America.” In response, Mr. Trump said, “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.”
Mere hours after his remarks were aired, his campaign’s press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, commented on the situation through a statement that declared there would be an “aggressive vetting process.” This process would allegedly exclude “all communists, radical Islamists, Hamas supporters, America haters, and public charges.” The statement concluded with the announcement that this new green card policy would only apply to “the most skilled graduates who can make significant contributions to America.”
The State Department estimates that there are currently over one million international students studying in the United States, with a majority of them originating from China and India.
Mr. Trump elaborated on his stance by stating, “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, they do the same basic company in those places. And they become multibillionaires.”
Although Mr. Trump and his team may make these statements now, during his term as president, the immigration restrictions he imposed on green cards, visa programs, and refugee resettlements are difficult to ignore. In particular, he began his presidency by signing an executive order to ban travelers from predominantly Muslim countries. He called the H-1B visa, a way for companies to hire skilled foreign workers, a “theft of American prosperity,” and moved to restrict the visa program.
The Biden administration and team called Mr. Trump’s statements an “empty promise.” The stark contrast between Mr. Trump’s declarative words during the podcast and his actions during his presidential term is confusing. How the visa programs and other legal immigration options may change, for better or for worse, for international students remains indeterminate.
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