Trump’s green card plan for foreign graduates sparks controversy

Controversy has surrounded President-elect Donald Trump’s plan to automatically issue green cards to foreign nationals who complete an American college.

During a June interview with The All-In Podcast, Trump made his stance clear on immigration for foreign graduates:

“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,” he said. His statement has since sparked debates on the implications of such a policy.

In the podcast, Trump doubled down on his stance, emphasizing that the policy would apply broadly: “And that includes junior colleges too. Anybody graduates from a college—you go in there for two years or four years. If you graduate, or you get a doctorate degree from a college, you should be able to stay in this country.”

Analysts believe this initiative aims to combat “brain drain” by ensuring that highly skilled graduates remain in the U.S., ultimately strengthening the American workforce.

The lives of foreign students would change

For overseas students, Trump’s proposal for green cards might change their lives, according to 27-year-old Metolo Foyet, a Ph.D. candidate from Cameroon who is a geography student at the University of Florida.

“There are so many things we have to think about. It can be very, very stressful, very quickly,” Foyet explains, noting that immigration concerns often weigh heavily on students. “Having it would erase that pressure. And we can 100% focus on what we need to do and give back to this country that has given so much to us.”

Not everyone, though, is hopeful about the proposal’s prospects. According to Haomin Huang, a forestry master’s student at the University of Georgia, many overseas students don’t think it will happen because of the current political situation. However, he admits that the work visa lottery system is frustrating because it frequently decides who stays based on luck rather than talent.

Huang says that many international students choose to leave the United States rather than establish their futures there due to the unpredictability of the current system. Several of his friends from Auburn University’s undergraduate finance school have already found other opportunities.

Opposition and Uncertainty Surround Trump’s Green Card Proposal

Trump’s base may become polarized as a result of the opposition of many of his fans to the immigration wave, who claim that foreigners displace American workers.

At the same time that American universities are recommending overseas students to return early, Trump’s idea has gained attention. There are rising worries that Trump would reimpose travel restrictions on specific nations in the weeks leading up to his inauguration.

According to CNN, a number of prominent universities have sent warnings to students about possible changes under the second Trump administration, including Cornell University, the University of Southern California, and New York University, which has the highest concentration of international students.

Fearing that travel and visa restrictions may be imposed during the transition period, they are urging international students who are presently on winter vacation to return to the United States prior to the January 20 inauguration.

Nonimmigrant visas are typically held by international students for their academic pursuits, but they do not offer a route to permanent residency in the United States.