Trump Makes Surprising Pro-Immigrant Pledge — But Campaign Walks It Back
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Donald Trump pledged to give green cards to foreign graduates of American colleges if he’s elected in November ― a stunning development given his plan for mass deportations for undocumented immigrants and fearmongering about migrants “poisoning the blood” of America.
Yet, there was the former president taking a rare pro-immigrant stance on the “All-In” podcast Thursday. The subject came up when he was asked if he would enable recruitment of “the best and the brightest” from around the world if he defeats President Joe Biden.
“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,” Trump said.
Trump said it’s “so sad” when the country surrenders talent from Harvard University and MIT or “lesser schools, which are phenomenal schools also.”
The presumptive Republican nominee claimed he intended to promote the same policy when he was president previously but got derailed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Trump, who moments earlier had hyped his efforts to build a border wall, spoke ruefully of “stories where people graduated 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 multibillionaires, employ thousands and thousands of people and it could have been done here,” he added.
But hours later, Trump’s campaign press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, walked back his comments in a more on-brand response to The New York Times. She said there would be “an aggressive vetting process” to “exclude all communists, radical Islamists, Hamas supporters, America haters and public charges.” She added that the policy would target the “most skilled graduates who can make significant contributions to America.”
Fast-forward to 44:00 for Trump’s college plan:
