Republican candidate Donald Trump has said he will automatically allow green cards to foreign graduates of American universities if he is re-elected, an unexpected turn by the former president considering his tough rhetoric on immigration.
Trump promised to make it convenient to bring talent to the U.S. and said anyone who graduates from an American university should be able to stay in the country during a podcast interview with Silicon Valley tech investors, reported Al Jazeera.
“It's very sad when we lose people from Harvard, MIT, top schools and lesser schools that are also phenomenal schools,” he said during an appearance on the show. Full podcast presented by Chamath Palihapitiya, Jason Calacanis, David Sacks and David Friedberg.
“I think you should automatically get a green card as part of your diploma to be able to stay in this country and that includes junior colleges as well,” he added.
People have the right to live and work permanently in the US through a green card and it also offers a path to citizenship.
This proposal of his marks a marked departure from the hardline positions on immigration that fueled his rise within the Republican Party, which could potentially create hundreds of thousands of new citizenship applicants each year.
Notably, the Republican candidate has pledged to undertake the largest deportation of undocumented immigrants in US history if he is re-elected in November.
He also once claimed that immigrants were “poisoning the blood of our country.” Additionally, he has repeatedly attacked his Democratic rival, President Joe Biden, for being soft on immigration.
According to Department of Homeland Security estimates, some 11 million immigrants reside in the United States without authorization.
