The administration of President Donald Trump moved on Thursday to impose stricted limits on how long foreign students and journalists can remain in the United States, the latest commitment to harden legal immigration in the country.
Under a proposed change, foreigners would not be allowed to stay for more than four years in students’ visas in the United States.
Foreign journalists would limit themselves to stays of only 240 days, although they could request extending in additional periods of 240 days, with the exception of Chinese journalists who would obtain only 90 days.
The United States, until now, has generally issued visas during the duration of the educational program of a student or a journalist’s task, although there are no non -immigrants valid visas for more than 10 years.
The proposed changes were published in the Federal Registry, initiating a short period of public comments before they can enter into force.
The Trump National Security Department claimed that an un specified number of foreigners was indefinitely extending their studies so that they could remain in the country as “students’ forever.”
“For too long, previous administrations have allowed foreign students and other visas holders to remain in the United States practically indefinitely, raising security risks, costing an incalculable amount of taxpayers dollars and disadvantage US citizens,” said the department in a press release on Wednesday.
The department did not explain how US citizens and taxpayers were affected by international students, who, according to the statistics of the Department of Commerce, contributed more than $ 50 billion to the US economy in 2023.
The United States welcomed more than 1.1 million international students in academic year 2023-24, more than any other country, providing a crucial source of income as foreigners generally pay full registration.
A group that represents the leaders of American schools and universities denounced the last movement as an unnecessary bureaucratic obstacle that entrusts to academic decision making and could deter potential students who would otherwise contribute to research and employment creation.
“This proposed rule sends a message to talented people around the world that their contributions are not valued in the United States,” said Miriam Feldblum, president and executive director of the Alliance of Higher Education and the immigration of the presidents.
“This is not only detrimental to international students, but also weakens the ability of US schools and universities to attract talent, reducing our global competitiveness.”
Reaction
The announcement occurred when universities were starting their academic years with many lower reports from international students after previous actions of the Trump administration.
But Trump also listened to rare criticisms at his base when he reflected on Monday that he would like to double the number of Chinese students in the United States to 600,000 while praising warm relationships with the XI Jinping counterpart.
His comments marked a strong deviation from the previous vote of the Secretary of State for Marco Rubio to rescind the “aggressively” visas of Chinese students.
The State Department said last week that in general he had revoked 6,000 students from the Trump since Trump assumed the position, partly due to Rubio’s orientation to campus activists who directed demonstrations against Israel.
Trump has also suspended billions of dollars in federal research funds to universities, with his administration holding that they have not acted against anti -Semitism, and Congress has sharply increased taxes on the endowments of private universities.
In a speech before being chosen, Vice President JD Vance said conservatives must attack universities, which he described as “the enemy.”
Trump, at the end of his first term, had proposed to stop the duration of the journalist’s visas, but his successor Joe Biden discarded the idea.
