Republican Party's presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump has made a surprising shift from his usual anti-immigration stance, batting for green cards to all foreign students who graduate from US colleges.
In a podcast taped Wednesday with venture capitalists and tech investors called the "All-In", Trump was asked about his ideas for companies to be able to import the "best and brightest" minds. "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. And that includes junior colleges too, anybody graduates from a college. You go there for two years or four years," the former president said.
The right-wing leader, who always maintained a highly nationalistic narrative and populist ideology, has vowed to restrict legal immigration if elected to a second four-year term. He had said that he would seek to end automatic citizenship for children born in the U.S. to immigrants living in the country illegally, an idea he flirted with as president. He had also pushed for "a merit-based immigration system that protects American labour and promotes American values."
However, the suggestion he made on Thursday ironically would result in a sweeping expansion of America's immigration system.
"I know of stories where people graduated from a top college, or from a college, and they desperately want to stay here… 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," Trump said.
He also said that US companies need “smart people,” adding "They can’t even make a deal with a company because they don’t think they’re going to be able to stay in the country." "That is going to end on day one," Trump added.
"You need a pool of people to work for your company," Trump said. "And they have to be smart people. Not everybody can be less than smart. You need brilliant people."
Trump had previously said the H1-B program commonly used by companies to hire foreign workers temporarily was "very bad" and used by tech companies to get foreign workers for lower pay. "First of all, I think and I know the H-1B very well. And it’s something that I frankly use and I shouldn’t be allowed to use it. We shouldn’t have it," he said. "Second of all, I think it’s very important to say, well, I’m a businessman and I have to do what I have to do."