Former President of the United States, Donald Trump made a surprising promise to grant automatic green cards to foreign graduates of US colleges during a recent podcast interview, signaling a significant shift in his stance on immigration.
In a notable departure from his previously hardline immigration policies, former President Donald Trump announced he would automatically grant green cards to foreign graduates from U.S. colleges if he wins re-election. Speaking on the All-In Podcast on Thursday, Trump emphasized the need to retain talented individuals who have completed their education in the United States.
“It’s so sad when we lose people from Harvard, MIT, the greatest schools, and lesser schools that are phenomenal schools also,” Trump remarked. He underscored his point, stating, “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.”
The proposal represents a dramatic pivot from Trump’s previous tenure, characterized by strict immigration controls and reduced legal immigration. During his time in office, the Trump administration cut green card issuance by over 418,000 and immigrant visas by more than 11 million, largely due to measures introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Trump attributed the pandemic to disrupting his earlier plans to facilitate green cards for graduates, lamenting missed opportunities: “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.”
This promise stands in contrast to Trump’s ongoing commitment to a stringent immigration policy, including his recent declaration to undertake the largest deportation of undocumented migrants in U.S. history if re-elected. At a campaign event in Wisconsin, Trump criticized President Joe Biden’s new immigration program, allowing undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens to apply for permanent residence without leaving the country. “Our country is under invasion. We should not be talking amnesty, we should be talking about stopping the invasion instead,” Trump asserted.
The move to offer green cards to graduates could result in hundreds of thousands of new citizenship applicants annually, marking a substantial shift in Trump’s approach to managing immigration, which has been a cornerstone of his political agenda.
