The White House is touting a decline in the number of foreign students enrolled in U.S. colleges amid the public’s growing realization that many U.S. employers prefer to hire cheap foreign graduates instead of skilled American professionals.
The White House response comes a week after President Donald Trump caused a middle-class uproar by endorsing the enrollment of 600,000 job-seeking Chinese students in U.S. universities. Even establishment GOP darling Nikki Haley tweeted her opposition: “It would be a massive mistake to allow 600,000 Chinese students.”
On Monday afternoon, the White House’s “Rapid Response 47” account announced: “Immigrant student enrollment is dwindling at schools across the US amid immigration crackdowns”:
In the morning, the Rapid Response account also posted a chart showing the “Number of new foreign students in US falls 17%.”
Trump and his officials are zig-zagging through their high-stakes, complex fight over foreign white-collar workers, foreign enrollment in U.S. universities, H-1B visas, and the future of American graduates.
Business groups want more foreign workers — especially low-wage foreign graduates with so-called “OPT” work permits — while Trump and his deputies are trying to get more Americans into good jobs.
The inflow of foreign graduates into U.S. jobs was started by deputies working for President George Bush. It recently peaked under President Joe Biden. The inflow has never been authorized by Congress, so Trump has the power to stop the inflow.
The inflow has steered more than a million foreign graduates into white-collar careers needed by Americans, often via ethnic hiring networks that exclude Americans.
The inflow is now so large that lower-quality universities would close if they were not able to help provide work permits to the white-collar migrants from India and China.
The New York Times reported on Monday:
The number of international college students enrolling in their American schools for the first time decreased by 17 percent this fall, according to data published on Monday.
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In the fall of 2024, according to the report, American schools reported a 7 percent decline in new international enrollments. The nation’s 1.2 million international students are still a key population for universities, accounting for roughly 6 percent of total enrollments. India and China, the world’s two most populous countries, together sent nearly 629,000 students to the United States.
The New York newspaper did not mention that President Biden’s deputies provided 400,000 worker permits to foreign students via the “Optional Practical Training” and the “Curricular Practical Training” programs. Many workers work long hours for little pay and much abuse, mostly because they have to win the H-1B visas that allow them to stay in the United States instead of going back to India or China.
The huge inflow of desperate migrants means that employers offer fewer jobs and opportunities to young Americans. For example, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported that 25 percent of U.S. computer science graduates could not get jobs in their field. In August, the New York Times reported the rising unemployment rate of white-collar graduates:
“I’m very concerned,” said Jeff Forbes, a former program director for computer science education and workforce development at the National Science Foundation. “Computer science students who graduated three or four years ago would have been fighting off offers from top firms — and now that same student would be struggling to get a job from anyone.”
But Jeff Bezos’s Washington Post touted arguments for more foreign graduates:
“International students aren’t just tuition revenue,” said Chris Glass, a Boston College professor and researcher on international higher education. “A decline in international students is not just a matter for next year’s enrollment cycle for universities — it’s a strategic setback for America’s role as a hub of global talent, science and innovation.”
Glass and others say universities depend on international students to help power research projects, bolster their revenue and help expose domestic students to a broader array of cultures and ideas. Foreign students make up about 6 percent of enrollment at U.S. colleges.
“The United States must adopt more proactive policies to attract and retain the world’s best and brightest,” claimed Fanta Aw, CEO of the Association of International Educators, which claims the reduced inflow of fee-paying foreign students would cost roughly 1.1 billion and 23,000 jobs.
Meanwhile, many Democrats insist that foreign workers are good for Americans. “I don’t think the immigration issue is pushing wages down,” Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz told Democratic activists on November 13. He continued: “This country is better because of immigration. We should encourage it, and we should want it.”
