(PatriotWise.com) — Podcaster Steve Bannon last week criticized Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s proposed plan to grant permanent resident status to foreign students who attend and graduate from American colleges and universities.
During a June 20 interview on the “All-In” podcast, Trump said he wanted to “automatically” give green cards to foreign college students along with their diplomas so they could remain in the United States.
Trump, who made a similar suggestion during the 2016 presidential campaign, explained that it was “sad” that the US was losing Harvard or MIT graduates who immediately leave the country after receiving their degrees.
During his “War Room” podcast the following day, Bannon attacked the former president’s plan to make green cards automatic, saying that most foreign students want to return to their home countries.
While Bannon conceded that he did not object to foreign nationals attending American universities, he said that once they graduate, the students should return home and “make your country great again.”
Trump’s comments received massive pushback from conservative Republicans, especially in light of the campus violence in recent months which foreign students from Arab and Muslim countries have played a significant part.
Critics have described it as “de facto amnesty,” and slammed Trump for ceding the higher ground in the immigration debate.
Even some die-hard non-conservative populists who support Trump blasted him for suggesting such a plan, noting that granting permanent resident status to those who go through the far-left US university system would backfire on the country.
The pushback was immediate and intense, prompting Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt to release a clarification explaining that Trump’s plan would apply only to highly skilled graduates who are “thoroughly vetted.”
Leavitt pointed out that Trump has proposed an “aggressive vetting process” for immigrants to weed out “communists,” pro-Hamas “radical Islamists,” and those who hate America.
She said the Green Card with Diploma plan would only apply to those who clear this vetting process and insisted that the plan would not “undercut” US workers.
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