during podcast appearance last week, former President Donald Trump made a perverse argument. “What I do is, you graduate from college, I think you should automatically get a green card as part of your diploma to be able to stay in this country,” he said. Add to He even included college graduates.
A Trump campaign spokesman quickly softened the proposal. has hope An “aggressive vetting process” that would “exclude all communists, radical Islamists, Hamas supporters, America haters and public accusations.” The green card benefits are only available to college graduates and “they will never reduce American wages or workers’ salaries,” the spokesperson continued. (It’s important to further elaborate on Trump’s original statement: Washington postCatherine Lampert has point outthe Trump administration “has implemented policies that further restrict skilled legal immigration, making life a living hell for these international workers and students.”)
But back and forth—and push back Trump’s rhetoric should not deter politicians from retaining foreign graduates as a weakness in the United States that needs to be addressed.
“The United States spends resources training hundreds of thousands of international students each year, but only provides the means for a small fraction of them to stay after graduation,” said Connor O’Brien, a research and policy analyst at the Economic Innovation Group (EIG). opportunity. “This is an incredible gift to China and other competitors who received the best and brightest education in the United States and then were forced back home by our backward immigration system. “
Electron diagram analyze Data from the National Survey of College Graduates released yesterday showed that only four in 10 international graduates from U.S. universities end up staying in the U.S. long-term. Three-quarters of a Ph.D. recipients stay, while half of master’s degree recipients and only 17% of bachelor’s degree recipients stay. Some may leave simply because their best employment prospects are in their home country or elsewhere. The EIG analysis noted that a key factor is that “increasing numbers of international students are competing for a fixed number of opportunities to stay”.
O’Brien believes that “unless we expand skilled visa programs like H-1B, or add more employment-based green cards, we will continue to lose tens of thousands of talented graduates every year.” “Guaranteed New Graduates “There are definitely some downsides to getting a green card” — it can create bad incentives for colleges — “but it’s clear we need to do a better job of retaining talent, and that requires more visas.”
A hostile immigration system method Many international students never arrive in the United States in the first place. April Report The National Foundation for American Policy, a nonpartisan public policy organization, believes international students are increasingly viewing Canada as a more favorable destination. International student enrollment in Canada between 2000 and 2021 Increase grew by 544%, while the United States grew by 45%.
Discussions about high-skilled immigration are often diverted into unproductive debates about the southern border — just look at what happened last night presidential debate for proof. What a pity. Border policy is in urgent need of reform and has far-reaching humanitarian and economic implications, but attracting and retaining highly skilled foreign talent is also a pressing issue.
Just a few presidential elections ago, both major party candidates embraced this vision. “I would put green cards on the diplomas of people in the United States who earn advanced degrees,” Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) explain exist 2012. So does President Barack Obama explain he supported “Encourage foreign students to stay in the United States and contribute to our economy by pinning green cards to the diplomas of graduates with advanced STEM degrees.”
Of course, this policy is not a panacea. Other reforms to the high-skilled immigration system remain necessary, e.g. addressing A massive green card backlog is forcing dozens of visa holders to wait decades for permanent status. Congressional inaction is an almost constant obstacle to any meaningful immigration reform.
America is fortunate to be a top destination International Students. Now is the time for politicians to seriously consider retaining them through smart policies.
