US President Donald Trump, in an interview with Fox News’ Laura Ingraham, said the presence of international students in US universities is 'good for business' and cutting their numbers would be 'financially destructive' for the education system.
His comments come at a time when his administration has gone after international students with actions including revoking thousands of visas and imposing stricter screening and social media vetting measures.
“You don’t want to cut half of the people, half of the students from all over the world that are coming into our country, destroy our entire university and college system, I don’t want to do that,” Trump said.
“I actually think it’s good to have outside countries. Look, I want to be able to get along with the world," he added.
When asked if he would restrict the number of international students to facilitate enrollment of American students, Trump said such an action could cause financial harm to the universities. He further went on to say Black colleges and smaller institutions depend heavily on international tuition.
“International students pay more than double and contribute trillions of dollars,” Trump said, adding, “I want to see our school system thrive. It’s not that I want them, but I view it as a business.”
Earlier this year, Secretary of State Marco Rubio ordered US embassies to temporarily pause student visa interviews, later resuming them with more stringent screening measures, including mandatory social media vetting.