MIAMI (AP) — Former U.S. President Donald Trump said he wants to automatically grant permanent residency permits to all foreigners who graduate from U.S. universities, according to an interview published Thursday, representing a stark contrast to anti-immigration rhetoric. which he usually uses in his campaign events.
Trump’s statements were in response to a question about his plans for companies to import “the best and most talented,” asked during the recording of the “All-in” podcast on Wednesday, in which investors participate.
“What I want and what I am going to do is that if you graduate from a university, I think that automatically along with your diploma you should receive a permanent residence permit to be able to stay in this country. That also includes university technical schools, anyone who graduates from higher education. You go for two years or four years,” he said, promising to address the issue on his first day as president.
Immigration has been Trump’s flagship issue during his campaign to return to the White House. His proposal to offer permanent residency permits — a document that confers a path to naturalization — to possibly hundreds of thousands of foreign graduates would mark a radical expansion of the U.S. immigration system that differs vastly from its usual messaging about foreigners.
Trump frequently says at his rallies that immigrants in the country illegally endanger public safety and steal jobs and government resources, and he once suggested they are “poisoning the blood of our country.” In addition, he has promised to carry out the largest deportation operation in United States history if he becomes president.
Trump and his allies often say they make a distinction between people who are in the country legally and those who are not. But during his administration, Trump also proposed obstacles to legal immigration, such as visas for family members and a visa lottery program.
Immediately after assuming the presidency in 2017, Trump issued an executive order known as “Buy American and Hire Americans,” instructing his Cabinet to propose reforms to ensure that only business visa applicants were granted. better paid and better qualified in order to protect American workers.
The former president has previously said that the H1-B program that companies commonly use to temporarily hire foreign workers — a program he himself has used on previous occasions — is “very bad” and that it is used by technology companies to hire workers. foreigners with lower salaries.
During the conversation with “All-In,” Trump blamed the coronavirus pandemic for not being able to implement these measures during his presidency. He assured that he is aware of people who graduate from some of the best universities and want to stay in the United States, but cannot obtain visas to do so, being forced to return to their countries of origin, referring specifically to India and China. He added that they continue their careers and become multimillionaires who employ thousands of people.
“You need a set of people to work for your company,” Trump said. “And they have to be intelligent people. Not everyone can be so smart. “You need brilliant people.”
