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Foreign Students are Not the Problem faced by US Students; Hiding from Global Competition Won’t Help [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2025-03-19

Tramp’s xenophobia and pretend protectionism may be popular, but they do not eliminate global competition.

Foreign students are around 5% of the university population. They pay higher rates of tuition, so they make tuition (and taxes) less for American students and citizens. Their diplomas grant neither residency nor citizenship. When they win jobs, they contribute to our economy, pay taxes and generate more jobs.

Those who go back to their home countries may go to work for our international competitors. If no foreign students were granted residency or citizenship, then they would all return and many would work for our international competitors. If no foreign students were allowed to study in the US, then US students would neither learn from them, learn about them, nor learn how to compete nor cooperate with them, directly. Foreign language programs would suffer. The quality of US higher education would drop and expenses would rise.

Also, the competitiveness of US companies would drop and more jobs would move overseas. Firms seeking to compete try to hire the best qualified applicants, and they benefit from a diverse workforce with a broad range of experience and different talents. If the US stops providing that workforce, then firms would have no choice but to move more of their business and higher paying jobs abroad.

If people were interested in improving the job prospects of Americans trying to compete with top foreign students, then they would invest in all levels of US education. And they would specifically invest in study abroad programs, so that insular, monolingual, ethnocentric Americans would learn more about our global competitive world.

Instead, Tramp is deporting low-wage farm, factory and other low-skill workers who do work that most US citizens are unwilling to do. He is not deporting doctors, entrepreneurs, bankers nor computer science engineers. If he did, the economic loss in productivity would be greater than the job gains for less qualified US workers.

Tramp is selling an America with less diversity and less strength. Sure, more of your apples may be picked by white people, and white people may be given preference over foreigners. But prices will rise and results will suffer. Our economy will shrink, and the rest of the world will continue to surpass us. That white veneer may be very important to some folks, but it won’t solve anything.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/3/19/2311276/-Foreign-Students-are-Not-the-Problem-faced-by-US-Students-Hiding-from-Global-Competition-Won-t-Help?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web

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